Unconditional
by WhisperedMemories
Summary: Love: Wars have been fought over it, people have been conquered...but in its purest form, that unconditional adoration, it can heal the deepest of wounds.
1. Youngest

_Chapter One_

_There's no other love like the love for a brother. There's no other love like the love from a brother. ~Astrid Alauda_

_Credit for the scruffbar goes to Karategal._

_**Optimus**_

When I was less than 100 vorns old, I lost my creators. My big brother Sentinel tells me that they were strict, but kind people. I don't remember them. Sentinel is my creator now, he takes care of me.

"Optimus! You have three klicks to get in this bathtub before I call your brother!"

Oh yeah, there was Chromia too. She's Ironhide's bonded and one scary femme.

"No!"

"Optimus!"

"NO!"

It was fun making the adults mad. But sometimes, even I know I have gone too far. Chromia marched in from the wash racks and scooped me up by my scruffbar. I scrunched up instantly.

"You sir, are in big trouble when your brother gets home. Not only have you gotten yourself covered in paint, you refuse to take a bath! Just you-"

"That's quite enough Chromia. He's just a youngling."

Sentinel was home! I squirmed in Chromia's grasp, pedaling my feet as if I were on the ground.

"Lemme down! Lemme down!"

Chromia laughed and set me down, giving me a little shove in the direction of my midnight blue brother. Man, being 400 was a full day job.

"Yes, yes I'm home. It's good to see you too Optimus," Sentinel said, laughing and scooping me up. I smiled, full on toddler appeal going.

"I made you a picture!"

"Really now? Is that why you're covered in paint, like I tell you not to? And why Chromia is trying to clean you?"

I widened my blue optics.

"Noooo."

"Optimus…"

"Maybe?" I said, tilting my head to the side. Then he narrowed his optics in only the way big brothers can.

"Okaaaay, yes, I did what you told me not to."

Sentinel waved Chromia off and that was when I knew I'd be getting a lecture. He sat me down on his titanic berth and put his hands on his hips.

"Optimus, what did I tell you about lying?"

"Lying is bad."

"And?"

"Lying is not the Autobot way. We must always tell the truth even if we get in trouble."

"Exactly. And why are we supposed to do what we're told?"

"Because if we ever disobeyed it on the battle field, we could get hurt."

"Good, now go get in the bath and not another word or I'll have to dangle you by your servos out the window."

I shrieked and ran for the tub, not willing to invoke my brother's wrath. Of course, I wasn't able to get in it without help and Sentinel knew that, but he stood there laughing at me anyway. Determined to show him, I leapt up and grabbed a hold of the rim and pulled myself in. I stuck out my glossa at him and blew a raspberry.

"Oh, is that so?" and he stuck a huge hand in the small tub, built just for me I might add, and splashed me.

I giggled and splashed back.

That was the last time I ever lied to my brother.

I was 600 today. That meant that I'd start school soon. I wasn't happy about that.

"Sentinel, do I have to? I like learning with Ratchet better!"

"Yes Optimus, Ratchet is the CMO now; he doesn't have time to do that with you anymore. Besides, you need to make some friends your own age."

"But Sentinel-"

"No Optimus, you're going and that's final."

I hung my head and shuffled back to my room. I heard his footsteps behind me, but I ignored him for once. I struggled when he picked me up.

"Put me down! I don't want to talk to you!"

"Optimus, you are going to have fun on your sparkday whether you like it or not. We're going into the city and to the science museum."

He knew me too well.

"Fine," I huffed, letting him put me on his shoulder as we went to the front entrance. I pouted on the outside the rest of the way there, but inside I was excited. I dreamed of being a scientist since Ratchet had brought back a glowing crystal from his travels.

The huge museum in downtown Iacon was beautiful before you even got to the inside. Graceful architecture adorned the front and intricate inscriptions ran together on the enormous double doors in a spiraling pattern. The roof itself was pure crystal and shone with a bright light all its own in the weak morning sun and the synthetic city lights around it.

"You're smiling Optimus."

Frag, I had let myself slip.

"That's what I thought. Now, what shall we see first? Bioluminescence or Astronomy?"

Before I could catch myself, I blurted it out. "BIOLUMINESCENCE!"

Sentinel laughed and took my hand leading me into the cool interior of my sanctuary. I grinned up at him and he smiled back, affectionately rubbing my antennae.

Be jealous, because I had the best big brother anyone could ever ask for.

**Sentinel! Why must you be such an aft shaft in Animated?**


	2. Jealousy

Chapter Two

"_Jealousy is nothing more than the fear of abandonment."_

Okay, so maybe my little brother Optimus wasn't the brightest mech sometimes.

No, it wasn't that he was stupid, not at all. It was that he was entirely too trusting. He would go with anyone, anywhere and assume that he would be home by bedtime and well-fed. Optimus would cling to complete strangers and believe that they would return him to the right people.

Unfortunately, Megatron was one of those people.

A high-ranking soldier and next in line to be Lord High-Protector, he was known for being arrogant. And he hated younglings. But he knew that I knew exactly why I asked him to watch Optimus while I was away. And that was reason enough for him to suck it up and babysit.

Leave it to me to entrust my brother, the most important being in the universe to me, in the care of an egotistical, selfish slaggard.

"_Sentinel, why do you have to go away?"_

_My spark clenched as I stared down at Optimus. His wide, deep blue optics were trained on my face as he waited expectantly for an answer. I knelt down so I was level with him, which was quite a feat considering he only came up to my ankle joint._

"_Bad people are trying to hurt us Optimus. And I have to go and make sure they can't."_

"_You mean they'll hurt everyone? Even the people in the city?"_

"_Yes Optimus."_

_And Optimus looked up at me with his optics, deep with understanding beyond his years, and smiled._

"_But Sentinel will come back right? Brother always comes back."_

_I didn't answer him for a breem._

"_Right?"_

_And then I forced a smile on my face. "Right."_

_I scooped him up and put him on my shoulder where he grabbed one of my antennae _

"_Sentinel, why is the city so sad?"_

"_What do you mean by that Optimus?_

_Don't say it, please don't. And when he clenched extra tight, I knew._

"_The city talks to me. It says it's sad because of the fighting."_

_Damn you Primus. Damn you._

"_Well, I'm sure it is."_

"_You believe me don't you?"_

"_Of course."_

_Damn you._

When I left that day, I came back to a different Optimus. The little sparkling I came back to was a boisterous, taller youngling. He was outspoken, passionate and downright rebellious. But he still clambered over everyone to get to me when I stepped off the transport.

"_Sentinel!"_

_I lowered my arm so Optimus could climb up and he scrambled up so fast he nearly pulled me down with him. He clicked excitedly as I walked towards the base and pulled on my antennae._

"_Guess what?"_

"_What?"_

"_Guess!"_

"_Hmm, let's see… you got a new paintjob?"_

"_Noooo."_

"_Your antennae are taller?"_

"_Yes…no! Guess again!"_

"_You're taller." That had to be it. Optimus had complained about his size for years._

"_No silly! I got an engraving!"_

_I froze and I saw Ironhide blanch beside me. I snatched Optimus up by his scruffbar and carefully searched his frame until I saw it. There, marring my brother's perfect face was the symbol for loyalty._

"_Optimus Sentinel Prime, you have three astro-seconds to explain yourself."_

"_Megatron said I could!" he squeaked out as he curled in on himself in the wake of my anger. I sighed and put him back on my shoulder._

"_You're still in trouble, but Megatron is in deep slag."_

And then there came the fight.

"_You had no right!"_

"_I am the eldest, it is always my right!"_

_I glared up at Megatron, my teeth bared and my face twisted into a terrible snarl._

"_You may be older than me by a thousand vorns, but that does not make you Prime."_

"_It should! I am the strongest, the fastest and the best fighter! What doubt is there that I would not make the best leader?"_

"_**You are Lord High Protector**__! Act like it! You should know that just because you can fight doesn't mean you can lead! Primes are born, not made!"_

_Megatron lifted up both his arms and for an astro-second, I thought he was going to smash my head in, but instead he slammed his arms together and they morphed to form a deadly rifle._

"_I should kill you where you stand. But for Optimus's sake, I will spare you. It is not your advisors I want to fight, nor your insipid friends. I want to fight him for the title of Cybertron's ruler. You aren't worth it."_

_I almost wanted him to shoot me then. To save Optimus the pain of having to fight his own brother, but I knew that if I died right now, Cybertron's freedom would die and so would Optimus's. Instead I unsheathed my battleaxe and poised it at Megatron's neck._

"_And I should kill you. Treason is punishable by death, and who would care? Do you have any followers that would avenge you? Any friends? Your life's goal is to kill the only family you have left. Get out of my sight; I don't have to kill you because I know someone else will."_

_And Megatron ran._

Now, I knew I should have killed him then. I could have saved my planet, my brother, from the violence that threatened to overrun us. And I watched Optimus as he drew his massive rifle, a gift from Ironhide for his 1500 spark-day, and take aim at an enemy hologram.

And it hurt to know that he still expected me to be there when he came home and I know that one day, I won't be. Eventually, and I know Optimus is fully aware of the possibility, I won't come back.

I just hope he'll be ready when it happens.

Please review!


	3. Fabula de Magnus

_Chapter Three_

_A friend is a brother who was once a bother. ~Author Unknown_

Many say that when you meet your sparkmate, you will instantly know who they are.

I used to spit on that idea.

But now, I don't think that they were that far off. When I met Elita for the first time, my spark just about burst out of my chest to get to hers. Primus must have been smiling on me because she smiled at me and I was able to smile back and wave without looking ridiculous.

Ultra Magnus did not let me live it down.

"Optimus has a girlfriend!"

"Be quiet you lugnut! What about Wingtip?"

"She…wasn't the one."

"Oh, really, I seem to recall you ranting about you and her bonding a few cycles ago."

"You know Optimus, for a future Prime; you sure are an aft shaft."

I punched him lightly in the shoulder and he returned it and I flew halfway across the street. He shrugged apologetically. I laughed.

"Magnus, you're gonna be one heck of a soldier when you graduate!"

"I'd better be your second-in-command!"

"Deal!"

Magnus was my brother while Sentinel was away.

The story of how he and I became friends is an interesting one indeed.

_At exactly 1400 vorns old, I decided I was going to run away from home. Life in the Iacon military center was boring for a youngling, or so I thought then. I decided to take up a job working at the loading docks._

_My first day of work, I lied. I told my new boss, Magnus's father I would later find out, that my name was Orion Pax. And he believed me! Such ignorance and freedom was refreshing from where everyone knew my face and would get on to me for anything._

_On my second day of work, I met someone new._

"_Hi, I'm Magnus, who're you?"_

_I turned around to see a behemoth of a mech. He was even bigger than Sentinel and the smile on his face was almost as nice._

"_Orion Pax."_

"_Orion huh? That's quite a fancy name for around here."_

_I blanched. Was my ego that bloated, that I had to give myself a fancy name?"_

"_I mean, everyone in my family has the name 'Magnus'. My full name is Ultra Magnus. Altus Magnus is my father."_

"_You're the boss's son?"_

"_You bet. Been on these docks all my life. My mother died when I was sparked and my favorite color is orange. Do you need to know anything else or as your foreman am I going to have to fire you?"_

"_You're a foreman? You can't be much older than me!"_

"_You're right. I bet you're about 14 or 1500. I'm exactly 1786 vorns old. And as your elder, I suggest you help me with this box before my struts give out from old age."_

I had grumbled at his dry humor at first, but I grew to appreciate it as the days wore on. Especially when Sentinel found me after a month or two.

_As I lifted my last box of the day, I heard footsteps approaching._

"_Magnus, for the last time, you can't sneak up on me when you-"_

_My voice trailed off when I saw that the hulking shadow in the doorway was not that of my friend, but my older brother._

"_Hello Optimus."_

_And I found myself running to him and purring when he swept me up and pulled me into a support-cracking hug._

"_Aw, so cute, just like that story about the two little kids that get eaten by rabid mechano cats."_

"_Shut up Magnus."_

Needless to say, Elita had not been happy with me when I got back. In fact, she had snubbed me and gone right up to Magnus, who had followed us back, and kissed his cheek. Then she turned around and slapped me.

"Pick me up at 0800."

Magnus and I had stared at each other.

"What just happened?"

"My friend, I think I just got you a date."

And that was when I truly knew that best friends were siblings that fate forgot to give me.

Or thought would be funny to watch.

Please review! Short chapter =]


	4. Replacement

_Chapter Four_

"_Love is as much of an object as an obsession, everybody wants it everybody seeks it, but few ever achieve it, those who do, will cherish it, be __lost__ in it, and among all, will never...never forget it.__" ~ Curtis Judalet_

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Sentinel died exactly as the Great War started.

With a great, gaping hole in his chest, he jump-started a conflict that had been boiling under the surface for four million vorns and would last another five million.

One klick my brother was smiling at me. The next, I was slammed to the ground. I froze; only watching at Sentinel fell. Warm energon splattered across my frame and a beam of light flashed across my face.

Sentinel's chest was blown open and I could see the brilliant flare of his spark. My sensors were going crazy as warnings flashed across my vision and my systems began to shut down from spark shock, but a weak hand clamped onto my ankle.

I glanced down to see Sentinel, his optics flickering and spark fading, a smile still on his face. I moved into full gear then, ignoring my override and kneeling down beside my brother.

"Don't you dare die on me! I'm calling Ratchet and if he has to drive out here for nothing he'll beat me with his wrench!"

My grief gave me a strange sense of humor. We both knew he was dying. I could see the ground through the wound and his spark-chamber had split in half.

"Optimus, you're such…a pain in the aft. But you must take the Matrix and lead the Autobots into battle against…Megatron…your brother. A Prime is born, not made and you are destined to be the greatest one Cybertron has ever had. You must promise that you won't…let-"

Sentinel convulsed and I couldn't help but shake him as his body danced across the ground.

"You said you'd always come back! Liar! LIAR!"

More of his energon coated my fingers as his spark faded and I felt his hand squeeze my arm one last time before his deep blue optics faded into black. I saw the Matrix, still glowing brightly within his chest and I seized it.

It was warm and it fluttered in my hand as I clutched it to my chest. What a sight I must have been, curled up on the ground and drenched in my brother's energon.

I found out what Sentinel was trying to say to me many vorns later. Revenge had consumed my spark for many, many vorns after his death and I had taken it out on those closest to me. I had shunned Ultra Magnus and Elita, refused to speak to Ratchet and wouldn't even look at Ironhide.

It all changed when the Matrix decided to pay a midnight visit…

_I stood on my balcony, watching as our far away sun set over the towers of Iacon. Night on Cybertron was beautiful._

'_Just like Elita.'_

'_Shut up.'_

'_Why are you talking to yourself?'_

'_SHUT UP!'_

I sighed. I knew I was really loosing it if I was talking to myself and answering. The Matrix pulsed in my chest and I briefly glowed from the inside out one klick.

The next, I was writhing on the ground, gouging out sheet metal as I clawed at the ground.

And then the Voices came.

"_We have been watching you…"_

"_A long, long time."_

"_Our greatest descendant…"_

"_And our destined savior."_

_I opened my optics to see a blazing sun. Bright flashes of colorful light swirled around me as I took in the unfamiliar landscape. Vast mountains of craggy rock rose above me and strange white clouds drifted by in a startlingly blue sky._

"_Optimus…"_

_I turned to see a huge bot, much taller than my brother was or I ever would be. He knelt down to my optic height and stared. I stared back in shock at his burning red optics, frozen from the depth of their gaze. Before he even opened his mouth, I knew who he was._

"_Father," I whispered. His serious face contorted into a faint smile for a split-klick and then went back to his grimace._

"_Hello, my son. I have waited a long time to meet you. Your mother would not allow me to visit you."_

_He must have sensed my confusion before I did because before I could even open my mouth, he answered my question._

"_No, I am not Alpha. My name is Vector Prime, Lord of time and dimensions. Although, being caught in this in-between place, it's more like I'm the lord of nothing and everything."_

"_But-Sentinel is my brother right?"_

_He chuckled and patted my head. "Yes, through your mother. Don't worry little one, the fates are not so cruel sometimes. But you have another, do you not?"_

"_Megatron," I whispered, my fists clenching in anger. Father's face grew serious and he stood up, placing me on his palm so I didn't have to crane my neck._

"_Yes, my eldest son. Lord High Protector of Cybertron and disciple of the Fallen."_

"_Brother or not, I will kill him."_

_Father nodded. "I know my little one. I have foreseen it and it shall be." His red optics narrowed in sorrow and he leaned forward to rest his forehead on mine._

"_Optimus, Megatron is your older brother. No matter how angry he makes you, no matter how cruel he is or how unforgivable his actions are…always remember that. Forgive him."_

"_I will never forgive him," I stubbornly retorted. Father sighed._

"_He has killed his own men, my people and now my brother. Whatever ties he had to me have been severed."_

_Vector tapped my chest, "The tie in here will never break Optimus. He will always be linked to you."_

"_Why are you here?" I snarled. "Are you here just to spit that in my face? Huh? Or are you just here to tell me that it's all my mother's fault you were never around? What do you want from me?"_

"_Just for you to know that I loved you Optimus and somewhere, in the very deepest corner of his spark, Megatron does too."_

"_Liar," I whispered. Just like everyone else._

_And then he was gone._

My optics shot open and I was met with Elita's sleeping face. I sat up, carefully so as not to wake her, and found myself on my berth. My head had been resting in her lap, and to my relief she hadn't called anybody. I twisted and went to reach for my gun, ready to go and find Megatron, but a small white hand landed on my wrist.

I looked up and met Elita's optics. I tried to pull away and she clamped down harder.

"Elita please…"

She didn't speak, but her optics narrowed and I felt her fingers dig into my wiring. Her face remained stubbornly set as I struggled to get out of her grasp.

"Elita!"

I froze in shock as tears began to leak from her optics. "Optimus, please… we miss you."

Her words drove a shard of ice into my spark. They were filled with absolute misery and I was the cause of it.

"I know."

**T-T Sad angsty chapter, but the next one is full of aft-kickin' so smile! PLEASE REVIEW!**


	5. Slave

_Chapter Five_

_He who is a good ruler, must have first been ruled~ Aristotle_

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The orn after my talk with Elita, I left.

At first, it was my mission to find Megatron, to kill him and make him pay for what he had done to me. But, in my disguise, I began to see the true sides of the Cybertronian people. Many of the lower class were swearing allegiance to Megatron and most of the middle and higher class bots to the Autobots, to me. The lower class felt they would have a chance to be noticed, to be given fair treatment under Megatron. It hurt my spark that they felt that way about him and hated us. So, to understand their plight, I became one of the lowest of the low: a gladiator.

These bots were truly destitute in society. Either slaves from debt or hardened criminals, they were desperate to win their freedom and they were deadly. A prime example of the barbaric customs that survived the Second Civil War, it was the perfect place for me to learn about my people.

"_You there, what's your name?"_

"_Orion, Orion Pax."_

"_Well , your name shall now be Optronix! I am Barbarous your trainer, and your name is too important for a lowlife such as you."_

"_Yes sir!"_

"_Good, you understand that at least. Now, choose your weapon and get busy!"_

My weapon of choice was an enormous energon axe, initially too big for me to wield, but later my key to defeating Megatron in later battles. I entered the rings still slim and gangly, but by the time my fight with Megatron came, I had grown taller than my brother had ever been and twice as broad.

_I heard shields banging as I waited in my chamber, the gate still closed and I looked up to see imperial guards of the Overlord of Kaon standing at attention as the bot entered. Overlord was a particularly nasty piece of work with deep maroon optics and black armor sharpened to spikes along his arm for the purpose of puncturing servants that displeased him._

_I frowned when the crowd cheered for him. I quickly turned it into a snarl when my gate was lifted and I strode out into the bright lights of the arena. I raised my axe and shield and was satisfied to hear them cheer my name. The arena announcer was eager to announce my statistics to the Overlord._

"_Optronix, with a total of 43 successful victories, 34 kills and 9 surrenders hails from the city of Iacon! At merely 1800 years old, he is the youngest gladiator to make it this far and his record number of victories is broken only by one cybertronian!"_

_I intaked deeply, preparing myself as I heard a gate behind me creak open and the roar of the crowd grow thunderous._

"_Megatron, with a total of 61 successful victories, all kills, hails from our own city of Kaon! At 5500, he is a well-seasoned warrior and our Lord High Protector! Raise your shields in salute and let the battle commence!"_

_I turned to face my brother and was not surprised that I now stood optic-to-optic with him. He snarled when he saw my face._

"_Optimus, what a surprise, I suppose you're here to 'avenge' Sentinel aren't you? Don't worry, I won't kill you just yet, but you will lose."_

_I didn't answer, but instead swung my axe. It met with Megatron's shield with a deafening crash and the crowd roared in approval._

_Quicker than my optics could follow, he swung his sword, whose pommel connected with my olfactory sensor so hard that in completely flattened inward. Ignoring the pain I twisted, avoiding his spike shield and dove for his middle. Taken by surprise, I managed to wrestle him to the ground. Just as I was about to drive my axe home, I stopped._

_Because I could see my father's face in his._

_Taking advantage of it, Megatron kicked me off of him and hacked my right antennae off. Howling, I struck out and cut off his left hand. Defenseless without his shield, he decided to take the offensive and slammed his sword yet again into my already ruined nose. This time, I felt only rage._

"_What's the matter Optimus? Did Sentinel raise you too soft? Wouldn't surprise me!"_

_My mistake was letting him get to me. I threw my shield at him, and missed, and then decided to go straight for his head. Big mistake. _

_When I jumped, it left my midsection exposed, which was exactly where he speared me. I didn't even land a blow as I landed in a heap near where the Overlord was sitting. I lay motionless, never having felt such pain before. I heard Megatron walk over, but was unprepared when he stepped on his sword's guard and shoved it even deeper into my internals._

"_You're pathetic Optimus, not even worthy of the name Prime. Your brother wasn't either. You're both weak! WEAK!"_

_And just as he went for another blow, I managed to swing my axe around and cut his legs off at the ankles. The crowd cheered, thinking I had missed when he staggered away, but quickly fell silent when Megatron fell backwards and his feet stayed upright. Energon spurted in a great arc, splattering me and the floor around both of us. The arena was totally silent. Not even an inhale was heard as I propped myself up onto my knees and looked around._

_Slowly, I got to my feet and managed to raise my axe over my head in victory. The commentator was the first to snap out of the haze, and he hesitantly announced my win to the crowd._

"_Winner…Optronix! Loser Megatron! According to the rules of Kaon, he is now the leading gladiator and will take Megatron's place!"_

"_NO-O-O!" howled Megatron, pulling himself to his knees, gasping and wheezing, and turning to look at me. "His name's not Optronix, its Optimus Prime! He's the leader of the Autobots, here to kill me just like I told you he would!"_

_I began to panic when the crowd grew louder and started throwing things at me._

"_Kill him!" they roared. _

"_Coward!"_

"_Thief!"_

"_Murderer!"_

_I stood, my midsection screaming as I desperately backpedaled away from the outraged crowd, and ran for my entrance. To my horror, I heard the chains clinking as it was lowered, but I put out a new burst of speed and barely slid under before it slammed shut behind me. I heard the crowd screech in outrage and saw several mechs running for the gate. I picked myself up again and limped for the exit._

_Many of the other gladiators pointed ways for me to go as I dashed by, and I gave them salutes as I ran. I fell several times and there was always another hand there to help me up and I will never forget that._

_My trainer, Barbarous, was the last mech I saw before leaving the Coliseum. The titanic mech, now shorter than me but still twice as wide, stood in the doorway his optics narrowed at me._

"_And just where do you think you're going __**Prime**__?" he spat. Then he scoffed and handed me his rifle._

"_You're gonna need this kid."_

_Then he shoved me out the door. I transformed and sped off, finally heading back to Iacon after nearly 300 vorns away from home._

Needless to say, when I had gotten home, Elita hadn't even looked at me and Ultra Magnus only sighed when he saw me and went off to stand by Kup's side.

For those first few weeks, that rifle had been my only friend and I had used it so much on the target range that it became my primary weapon.

Too bad it was useless. Because I wasn't allowed near a position of command for a _long _time.

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Loooong chapter for you guys! PLEASE REVIEW!


	6. Lead

_Chapter Six_

"_The wicked leader is he who the people despise. The good leader is he who the people revere. And the great leader is he who the people say 'We did it ourselves'." ~Lao Tzu _

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B-e-g-i-n T-r-a-n-s-m-i-s-s-i-o-n

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I was stripped of all my titles and authority when I re-enlisted into the Autobot headquarters. I didn't mind all that much, at first. But when no one listened to my ideas and ignored me as if I didn't exist, I began to understand how my people felt.

But I was determined to help them, and one incident set me on the path to becoming Prime again.

"_Elita?"_

_I stared at the door for a moment, silently hoping she would answer, but after a few breems it was obvious she was ignoring me. I sighed. It had been nearly a whole vorn since I had returned from Kaon and she still hadn't spoken to me since the day I walked through the gates. But 'Frag you Optimus!' doesn't really count as a conversation._

_Thankfully, Ultra Magnus had forgiven me after a couple of cycles and now was the only one talking to me beside Ratchet. Ironhide was still pissed as hell at me and as long as he grunted at me when I talked to him I would wait until he was ready to face the fact that I wasn't dead. Speaking of which…_

"_Optimus, she's not there."_

_Magnus walked up, his face grim. "She's been in the firing range for joors now. I think she's officially killed 254 of you in there."_

_I groaned. "Really? No slag?"_

"_No slag. The cadets say she's been shooting your hologram all day."_

"_Then I'd better go an-"_

_I paused, my audios adjusting as a high-pitched whine came from the distance. Magnus looked at me curiously, but when he opened his mouth to ask I held up my hand and heightened my sensors. The whine became a drone and then erupted into a full blown roar._

"_Seekers!" I exclaimed, dashing off for the command center._

"_Optimus wait! What do you mean? Dammit!"_

_I didn't wait for him to catch up as I ran. Of course he couldn't hear it; the slaggard had always had bad hearing to begin with and mine was sharper than normal anyway. I realized I wasn't gonna make it before the bombs started dropping halfway up the stairwell and immediately linked my comm. to Teletraan._

"_Optimus Prime reporting in."_

"_This is Ironhide, proceed Private Optimus."_

_Ignoring the obvious blow to my ego about my title I kept my voice calm when I answered._

"_Code Orange alert, we've got Seekers in bound south of the city. E.T.A of the borders, six breems."_

_The computer's feminine voice piped up to counter what I knew to be a look of scrutiny on Ironhide's face._

"_Confirmed, estimated number of inbound objects, thirty-five."_

_Thirty five. My brother hadn't been that damaged then if he was able to rally that many troops in such a short time. I took off again, heading for the barracks. As I stepped outside, I felt the ground shake._

"_No, no, no!" I cried, transforming to reach my weapons faster. I raced through the low lying building, shoving other bots aside and grabbed my rifle and battle-axe. Hoisting the axe over my shoulder and tucking my rifle onto my back, I took off again, this time for the gates._

_Crossing the outer yard of Decagon took no time at all and no one gave me a second glance. Smashing through a crowd of panicked trainees, I immediately set to work defending my city._

_I lifted up a burning roof and helped a femme and her daughter out._

_Burning slag rained down from the towers, singing my armor and I kept running._

_One of my brother's soldiers stood in my way and I cut him down without a thought._

_As I knelt down to help up an elderly mech, I saw more of the city-bots crowding around me._

"_What do we do?"_

"_Please!"_

"_Help us!"_

_I looked down at the old bot and he gave me a knowing look. "Don't look at me young Prime. I'm not programmed to be a leader."_

_I stood up, taking him with me and looked at the transformers around me. Smoke swirled through the streets, making them look like ghosts and more fire rained down from the sky._

"_Alright, listen up, I'll take you as far as the perimeter highway, but you'll have to get to Decagon on your own! Can you do that?"_

_They were quiet at first, but a young mech piped up. "Yes sir!"_

"_Good, now pair up and follow me!"_

_I looked behind, making sure anyone not able to walk that far had help, and led them through the war zone. Heaped piles of buildings lay everywhere and huge, smoking craters blocked our way. I panicked then, not knowing how to get these people across this huge scar in the ground. With the sound of more seekers getting closer, I knew we had only one option._

"_Listen up! We're going to have to go down into this crater and come up on the other side! I suggest you transform if you can and carry those who can't. If you are unable to do either, please run as quickly as you can!"_

_Immediately, several of the larger mechs transformed into their alt modes while femmes loaded younglings onto them, and only three femmes and a youngling were left without a ride. I walked over to them and held out my arms for the young mech. A young femme, too young to be his mother I thought handed him to me._

"_Please, take care of my son. He's all I have."_

_Her young optics trained onto mine and I nodded, lowering myself into the crater and watching at they made their descent. As soon as the eldest's feet hit the ground, I screamed for them to run and we did. I could hear the roar of the seekers and the air trembled from their thrusters._

"_Faster!"_

_I sped up, clinging to the youngling in my arms as my intakes hissed from the effort. I looked behind to see the femmes keeping right up with me. Surprised, but pleased, I gave them a brief smile and kept running. Just as we approached the opposite side, I heard the unmistakable whine of a bomb dropping. I froze as I climbed and looked down to see the young mother's optics widen in terror. I reached down for her but she shoved me ahead._

"_Go, please!"_

_I did. And just as I reached the edge of the crater, it filled with fire and I heard her scream._

I never learned her name, but I did take the little mech home with me. I learned his name was Smokescreen after a few days of patient waiting. He would come under the tutelage of a decepticon turncoat by the name of Mirage. But what mattered most during that day, was that when I rolled over the edge of that crater, wounded and exhausted, my people put me over their shoulders and walked all the way to Decagon with me on their backs.

And they never once asked what my name was.

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Serious chapter, because I watched Robin Hood and went on a legend binge :D

PLEASE REVIEW!


	7. And They Will Follow

_Chapter Seven _

"_Examples have more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire." ~ Christian Nevell Bovee_

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The first person to believe that I would be a great Prime had been my brother, Sentinel. But for many stellar-cycles after the first bombing of Iacon, I did not believe in myself. Ultra Magnus still tip-toed around me, Ironhide was gruff (which I knew stemmed from disappointment) and Elita would not talk to me.

That changed when they attacked Praxus.

_Such a quiet morning for such a terrible day. I looked around at the wreckage of Praxus, a once beautiful and bustling city. Smoke curled up from smoldering building, coating the area with grime that made the energon splattered in the streets coagulate into a gory paste._

_As I walked, a section of a building crumbled and I had to run to avoid being crushed. When the dust cleared, I gasped in horror. The building had fallen to reveal a dead mech, his arms still curled around his mate. I backpedaled, squeaking like a sparkling, and fell over. The femme looked so much like Elita it was frightening._

"_Optimus?"_

_I turned to see her._

"_Elita?"_

"_I- I saw what you did to help that soldier and his brother. That was really brave."_

_And she knelt down in front of me, taking my face in her hands. "I owe you an apology too. I know why you left."_

_I leaned into her shoulder, feeling my spark pulse when she rested her cheek on my head._

"_C'mon, let's go get you some energon. That little sparkling you saved all those vorns ago? Well, he's here and he wants to talk to you."_

_I let her help me up and we walked back to the make-shift refugee camp we had made. I took one last glance at the couple, forever melded together, and shuddered. Elita twined her fingers with mine and soothingly stroked my arm. As we approached the medical tent, a young mech ran out to greet me._

"_Hello Optimus sir!"_

_His face was familiar but…_

"_I'm that mech you rescued, remember? Maybe not, I was pretty small."_

"_Smokescreen."_

"_You do remember!"_

"_Of course, it's my duty to know my soldiers."_

_Elita looked up at me. "Your soldiers?"_

"_Yeah, Ironhide finally let me become a general. I'm not Prime just yet though and I'm just fine letting them do their jobs for a little longer."_

"_Sir, if you would excuse me, that's my cousin calling me over."_

"_Of course, go ahead."_

_I kept and optic on him until I went in to the medical tent. A young guardian lay on a table, welds covering his body. He moaned as he recharged._

"_Barricade…Mother…"_

_I looked questioningly at Elita, but she shrugged. Ratchet came in and immediately answered his question._

"_He lost track of his brother in the raid. His creators are dead."_

_The mech's optics shot open and he rounded on Ratchet, holding up an acid gun._

"_I didn't lose him, you bastards took him and now I can't find him!"_

_I slapped the gun out of his hand and pushed him back down on the berth. He narrowed ice blue optics at me._

"_That's enough."_

"_You! I heard you on the radio!"_

_He struggled, and then head butted me in the mask. I stumbled back when it fell off, clutching my now broken olfactory sensor._

"_You! You promised to help! It's all your fault, you slagger!"_

"_Hey, watch your mouth!" shouted Elita, helping me up. "It's Megatron's fault if any!"_

"_Shut up! I know very well who he is! If you were a better Prime this wouldn't have happened!"_

_Bots had come to ogle at this spectacle and I turned away, leaving him there._

"_I'm sorry."_

_He stared after me with angry optics as I walked past and I was swarmed by bots as I left._

"_Let me at him sir! I'll teach him some respect!"_

"_Optimus, sir, why didn't you fight back?"_

"_Sir?"_

"_It's not his fault. Leave him be. He's suffering greatly right now."_

"_Yes sir," said Smokescreen. He turned to the others._

"_He's a Prime. It takes more power to not fight back than to go in fists swinging. You guys should know that."_

_I smiled._

When Prowl joined our ranks, he became such an outstanding soldier that I couldn't help but promote him faster than any other bot. I knew his determination stemmed from his missing brother and it inspired me to try and help my own. But that would never happen. It took many, many vorns for Prowl to forgive me, but he never really forgave himself, even when Barricade did turn up a few thousand vorns later at Floatilla.

But that is a story for another day.

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Looong wait for such a short chapter. Sorry about that! PLEASE REVIEW!


	8. A Child's Mind

_Chapter Eight_

"_Of course children understand the things adults say. What a thing to assume. At the very least they know if a comment is kind…_

_Or if it's malicious."_

_~Tohru's Grandad (Natsuki Takaya)_

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In all my vorns as a soldier and as Prime, I have never seen something so amazing such as the mind of a sparkling. They are so curious, and innocent and bright in the ways that children are. But when I met Bumblebee for the first time, I knew there was something exceptional about the little yellow sparkling.

"_Is he supposed to look like that?"_

"_Yes. He's a sparkling!"_

"_But he's so tiny!"_

"_Don't be teasin' him."_

"_We named him Bumblebee."_

_I took a second look at the little bundle of yellow cradled in Chromia's arms. He opened his wide blue optics and chirped. I chirped back. Delighted, he rambled on, talking about unidentifiable things._

_**Big black.**_

_**Soft blue. Soft pink.**_

_**Warm red. Warm.**_

_I stared at him. He stared back and a wide grin stretched across his face, his little antennae wiggling._

_**Bright light. Warm**__._

"_He likes you Optimus," giggled Elita, putting a hand on his arm. Chromia laughed and they walked off, leaving the sparkling with the two mechs._

"_Chromia you can't-"_

"_Elita!"_

"_Yes you can!" they chorused._

"_Ugh!"_

_We looked at the sparkling that sat between us, his little doorwings perked. And then we looked at each other._

"_He's your son Ironhide."_

"_And you're Prime. He's one of your people and since I dealt with your sad butt while you were little you owe me."_

"_No way I-"_

_Three hours later, I sat on the couch, reading a holo-report with a sleeping Bumblebee nestled in my other arm. What I read was rather disturbing._

To Optimus Prime,

Due to the shortage of energon in Crystal City, several of our sectors are being shut down.

We regret to inform you that we need the help of Iacon and as such, Decagon. Our youth sectors can no longer feed our orphaned and abandoned younglings.

I request that you send only as many troops as you can spare to help transport them to the Youth Sector there in Iacon.

Reply would be appreciated A.S.A.P

- Deputy Magistrate, Omega Supreme

_I sighed. This constant on and off war was starting to take its toll on the planet and my people. I set Bumblebee down in his portable crib and walked over to my desk to begin a response. Midway through, I heard him start to fuss. I went over to him and picked him up._

"_What's this? You were recharging fine a few minutes ago."_

_He continued to fuss and squirm. A few moments later the lights flickered and went out._

"_Slag!" I cursed, activating my comm. link. "What the pit's going on? Someone tell me!"_

"_Just another one of Wheeljack's screw ups sir!"_

_I growled. That bot was a genius, but slagging irresponsible sometimes._

"_Tell him I've got Bumblebee and if he doesn't get those lights back on in the next fifteen breems he'll be expelling exhaust through his olfactory sensor for the rest of his life!"_

"…_Yes sir!"_

_I grumbled, settling back down and getting out a bottle to feed Bumblebee. The sparkling squealed excitedly at the sight of it and greedily latched on to it._

"_You know, my brother said I used to love my bottle. Said I would carry it around long after I stopped needing it. He was Prime you know, just like me."_

_Bumblebee stared up at me, his blue eyes focused on my mask. He kicked at it, chirping._

_**Metal bad.**_

"_Okay, okay I'll take it off."_

_I slid the mask off, showing the sparkling a smile. Bumblebee cooed and promptly threw the bottle at my face. _

"_You're just like your father, you know that?"_

Heh, Bumblebee was rather feisty his entire life, but smart. That sparkling was a genius when it came to escaping. But he was also rather sensitive about his size and was fierce when insulted. Not that Chromia was any better. She had beat up quite a few femmes for making fun of her adoptive son…

"_Can I play?"_

"_No! You're too small, go somewhere else!"_

_I watched as Bumblebee tried desperately to make friends with other mechs his age. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had been fantastic, accepting him right away, but they were a fair bit older and as such had several duties to do that Bumblebee simply could not attend._

"_I'm not small! You're just freakily big!"_

_I smirked. That youngling was going to be someone important one day. Then one of them swung and hit him on the faceplate, I stepped forward, ready to grab the mech by the scruffbar. When I was just a few feet from the group of younglings, I stopped. Bumblebee had gotten up and jumped onto the little mech's back, clawing at his face with his little hands._

"_Don't hit me! Don't hit me! DON'T HIT ME!"_

_I quickly pried him off of the other mech, hoisting him into the air by his scruffbar. He hissed and spat, growling out curses that would make most mechs' audios short out. I told the other mechs to leave, and never bother Bumblebee again. I was wholly confident they wouldn't. I looked back at Bumblebee._

"_Why did you do that Bumblebee? You should have told an adult."_

"_Momma and Papa aren't here. Aunty Beta is watching me. I don't want them to worry."_

_I sighed. Such innocence._

"_Bumblebee, you can't let yourself get hurt because of that."_

"_I hear what all those femmes say to my mother. They make fun of her, call her names. I don't know what some of them mean, but they make her sad and it's all my fault."_

_I put him on my shoulder and we walked back inside and towards his room._

"_You know, when I was little my brother was away a lot too. But my other brother looked after me. He was mean too. Called me lots of nasty names."_

"_But you're __**Prime.**__ No one's allowed to do that!"_

"_Lots of people do though. Many leaders, myself included, cannot be liked by everyone. And though it isn't right for those bullies to treat you like that, they only do it because they're scared."_

"_Scared?"_

"_Yeah, because one day you'll-"_

_I stopped when I saw Elita talking to a femme. From her gestures I knew she was angry._

"_How dare you talk about them that way! If you can't deal with them, then it's your responsibility to come tell me, not treat them as outcasts!"_

_I saw the twins hiding behind her, Sunstreaker balled up under his kneeling brother. The teacher, an arrogant femme by the name of Tenacity, simply scowled at her._

"_Fine, take the little monsters, less for me to worry about."_

_Bumblebee curled into my head. _

"_That's the same femme that says those things to Mama. She doesn't like her or Aunty Elita very much. She's mean."_

That femme died during a raid, trying to save a few of the younglings from her classroom. I later learned her hatred of Elita and Chromia stemmed from the fact that she had lost her own younglings in the chaos of the relocations and never did find them.

Although, she did look an awful lot like Sunstreaker.

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Yay, Mems got another one out in the same day! PLEASE REVIEW!


	9. Outcry

Chapter Nine

"A child seldom needs a good talking to as a good listening to." ~Robert Brault

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"_Prime, sir?"_

"_Bumblebee, you know you can call me Optimus. I've known you since you fit in the palm of my hand."_

"_I know, but this is important."_

"_Well then, what is it Bumblebee?"_

_I saw him shift his feet and his antennae twitched in his usual tell-tale sign of nervousness._

"_I-I- I would like to become a recon scout. In special ops."_

_I sighed, having known this was coming for a long time. Special ops bots had a habit of disappearing and their bodies never reappearing. He was so young…_

"_Have you talked to Ironhide and Chromia?"_

"_No."_

_I opened my mouth to say something but he held up his hand first. "Please sir, hear me out."_

_I silently called out to Elita with my spark so I could have some backup. I knew how much Bumblebee wanted to help and didn't know if I could deny him what he wanted._

"_Optimus, please! I'm never allowed on the front lines, not since my accident anyways, and I feel so helpless when I see mechs I've grown up with come back dead! Sunstreaker is missing! I want to help Optimus, __**please**__!"_

_Just as he put his hands on my desk, Elita came in, toting Chromia and Ironhide behind her. When Bumblebee saw them he turned to look at me with hurt optics. His face narrowed in anger and he pushed past his foster-parents before they could say anything._

"_Optimus, what's this about?" asked Chromia, her face concerned for her only youngling._

_But Ironhide stepped forward and put his hands on my desk. "He wants to join doesn't he?"_

_I closed my optics and nodded. Chromia and Elita looked at each other._

"_Ironhide…"_

"_Bumblebee wants ta be a special ops scout. It's tha only thing he'll be able ta do wit' his injury."_

"_But mechs never come back from that! He can't Ironhide! He's only 1700! He-"_

"_Chromia!" I suddenly said, making them turn to look at me in surprise. "I was younger than him when Sentinel died. I was a gladiator for 300 vorns and lived. He is strong, just like his parents. Give him a chance."_

"_But Optimus, he's just a youngling! He can't-!"_

"_Mia, you can't protect 'im foreva'. He's an adult now."_

"_He's my sparkling, and I'll protect him for as long as I damn well please 'Hide!"_

_Chromia turned on her heel and strode out, her intakes hissing in annoyance. Ironhide went to follow her, but Elita held up her hand._

"_No Ironhide let me. She's needs some femme time."_

_I nodded to her and she left, leaving me alone with Ironhide. The weapons master turned to look at me with troubled optics._

"_They hate me, Optimus. Both of 'em. They are tha two most important ta me, why does this happen?"_

I had never seen such a tight knit family unit as Ironhide's had been, but a few days after their fight Bumblebee was under the tutelage of Jazz. Bumblebee and Chromia didn't talk for many, many cycles and Ironhide became very distant with everyone, including his son. So, Elita and I became surrogate parents for him during the orns of his training.

"_Aunt Elita, I picked up that energon you wanted!"_

"_Okay sweetspark, set it on the counter in the-"_

_Her words had been interrupted by a loud crash in the small kitchen our apartments had. Bumblebee and I took off for her at the same time, arriving just in time to see Sideswipe standing in front of Elita, covered in energon and barely held together by countless welds on his body._

"_Optimus…Mother…" he whispered, before collapsing. Bumblebee barely managed to catch him before he hit the floor._

"_Sideswipe what happened?" shrieked Elita as she knelt down to help him up. "You were gone for three vorns!"_

_He looked up, his face scratched and burned to be near unrecognizable. "I found him."_

"_What?"_

"_I found Sunstreaker. They took him to Kaon."_

_I felt my spark slow at the mention of the Decepticon city. Images of gates closing, shields clashing and the forever pounding of bloodthirsty feet on the floor raced through my processor._

"_No. They couldn't have…not even Megatron would-"I whispered. Suddenly I whirled and strode out, calling for Prowl._

"_Assemble a raiding party, we're going to Kaon! He found Sunstreaker."_

"_Right away sir!" he turned and I heard him uplink to the main intercom. "All Autbots, teams Alpha through Theta report to the hangar! Special ops four, five and six report to ground transport!"_

_He turned and nodded to me. "It's done."_

"_Good." I said, grabbing my axe off the wall; where it had been mounted ever since I had returned home nearly 12 million vorns ago._

"_HELP ME!"_

_I looked from side to side, desperately searching for the mech screaming in terrible agony. My mask snapped back, exposing my newly crushed faceplate._

"_Sunstreaker?" I screamed, beheading yet another gladiator, his intakes sighing in relief as he fell._

"_HELPMEHELPME__**HELPMEEEEE!"**_

_His scream was so horrifying that the entire room fell silent and even the Decepticon soldiers stopped fighting. I saw Sideswipe shaking beside me, clutching at his head when we didn't hear another scream. Jazz appeared next to him and put a hand on his shoulder._

"_Sides?"_

_Suddenly Sideswipe grew rigid, his optics wildly scanning around. Then he took off faster than I'd ever seen a mech move. _

"_SUNSTREAKER!"_

_I heard a horrible silence...then an audio shattering blast from a plasma cannon._

"_Sideswipe!" I called out, waiting for what seemed like an eternity until the red twin responded._

"_He's here!"_

_But his voice was empty and cracked and I knew it was bad. I walked forward, my footsteps heavy in the deathly silence of the now almost empty rooms. Rounding a corner I came upon a kneeling Sideswipe holding his unconscious brother in his arms._

_But what made my tanks heave was the body lying next to Sunstreaker's. It was a young mech, no older than Bumblebee and his frame was mangled beyond comprehension. I felt what humans would later call nausea as I looked back and forth and realized what had happened. Sunstreaker had killed that mech and from the scars on the back of his cranial unit, it was not his own doing._

"_Noooo! Stop! __**STOP!**__" screamed Sunstreaker as we loaded him onto Magnus' carrier. Sideswipe tried, and failed, to keep his twin calm._

"_Sunny, please! They're going to help you."_

"_No! Don't let them take me away! Sideswipe! Not again!"_

"_NOT AGAIN!"_

Sunstreaker never spoke about what happened while he was gone all those vorns. Not to me, not to Elita and I don't think even Sideswipe knows everything that happened deep in Kaon.

No one does.

Whew! Finally got to updating this! Sorry for the long wait! PLEASE REVIEW!


	10. Daydreams

Chapter Ten

"_I miss the times when I used to wake up out of nightmares, and not into them." ~ Yuval K._

_A/N: This is what I imagine Sentinel to look like: .com/?qh=§ion;=&q=sentinel+Prime#/d31mzhc_

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I keep asking myself what we are really fighting for in this Primus forsaken war and I keep getting worthless answers. We are not fighting because Megatron is evil.

Oh no. We lost that reason many vorns ago.

Nor are we fighting for personal vendettas. Those bots were taken care of early into this war.

I'd like to think we're fighting to save what's left of my people, of _Cybertron's _people.

But my home is nearly gone. Only faded shells of buildings remain. The streets are empty and covered in slag and ash. Bodies lay where they fell thousands and thousands of earth years ago, slowly rusting away into nothing.

I decided a long time ago to make a vow to my old mentor Alpha Trion and to my brother.

Till all are one.

Drilled into my processor since I could walk. It was always the same thing. We are all brothers and sisters. We are one people, not meant to be separated. We are the same.

But we're not.

'…_Long ago, in the days before transformers and even before Cybertron, there were two brothers. One was good, the other evil. They were not always this way. The older brother used to be kind and gentle in his actions, caring for the young universe alongside the younger…'_

_The voice belonged to Elita, but when I turned to where her voice came from, I saw something I hope to never see while I'm alive._

'_But when Primus lovingly created the thirteen original primes from the stars, and thereby devoting all of his care to them, Unicron became jealous of his brother's new creations.'_

"_I hate you!"_

"_LIAR!"_

"_Foolish! Weak! Unworthy of the title Prime!"_

"_Your fault!"_

"_Your fault!" _

"_YOUR FAULT!"_

_I shot up, clenching at my spark. I warily looked around our room, the berth humming softly as Elita stayed in recharge beside me. I looked out the window to see that it was still the blackest part of the night. I knew that far below Iacon was deathly quiet, as it was every night since the start of the war._

_It was a dead city._

_I knew we were dying. Slowly, but surely, Cybertron was dying. Less and less were the numbers of younglings being sparked every vorn. Our energon became more and more diluted as we tried to stretch it out further._

_Old bots died._

_I could feel it in my spark as the planet slowly shut down. Huge craters were causing irreparable damage to the inner core. I physically hurt as it reached out to me._

I would always feel guilt for what had happened to Cybertron. A once beautiful, and powerful, planet was now a corroded empty shell sitting dead in space. Only pirates and memories lived there now. I remember once, from very long ago, what Crystal City looked like the last time my bots and I saw it.

"_Home."_

_I turned to see Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, the latter his twin's constant shadow since his return, looking longingly at the graceful towers that rose into the air. He kept behind his brother, warily looking around before letting his brother go more than a few feet from his side. He was quiet, smooth in his movement and on guard. The way I had been after leaving the ring. But Sunstreaker had deep crimson optics now and I knew it would be many long vorns before they returned to their natural icy blue._

"_Optimus sir?"_

_I turned to see Prowl looking at me curiously. "Are you alright?"_

"_Oh, yes…status report Prowl."_

"_Almost four hundred clicks from here, is an energon mine large enough to sustain Iacon for several vorns."_

"_Any signs of civilian life in the city?"_

"_Negative. Only remote Decepticon activity…all civilians terminated."_

_I heard Jazz and Ironhide fall silent behind us. Sideswipe and Sunstreaker turned to look at us sharply. Optics, two blue and two red, narrowed and turned to each other. I knew what they were thinking, I had raised them after all._

"_No."_

_They turned back to me and narrowed their eyes even further, each tiny movement of their face in perfect synchronization. Twins were such strange creatures._

"_Prime, you'd better come here!" called Prowl a few hundred feet ahead of us. I slowly approached him, wary of knowing what to expect. You can imagine I was surprised to see a femme, crouched below a loose piece of the ground, her blue optics and chrome accents barely visible in the shadow. I knelt down and stretched out a hand._

"_It's alright, we won't hurt you."_

_But she tilted her head to the side and inquired something in a very strange dialect. I could hardly understand her accent. But Sunstreaker stepped forward and held out his hand, softly speaking in the strange lilting accent. The femme gladly stuck out her hand and allowed the yellow twin to pull her up. Then she turned to me and gracefully bowed._

"_Optimus Prime, thank you for your help. I am Moonracer u'Metale."_

_Ah, a noble. They all had that u placed in front of their names. It made my job twice as difficult sometimes._

"_My lady-"_

"_Please, I am the last of my family. I am no more a lady than you are a Decepticon."_

"_Of course, Miss Moonracer."_

_She smiled and turned to face Sideswipe who studied her with his head tilted to the side, mirroring her actions. I heard his audios spinning as he studied her. I saw Sunstreaker go to his brother's side, shy now that his moment of boldness had passed. Moonracer unconsciously followed and before I could stop her, Sideswipe pushed her away._

"_Stay away!"_

_She was rather taken aback and came to stand next to Prowl. "I apologize, I didn't realize."_

"_It's alright; they're just a little shocked is all. They expected their home to have more than one survivor," I said._

"_Hmph, don't we all," muttered Prowl, turning to the others. "All right, let's move out, we can send the Aerial Bots in later!"_

_I caught Sunstreaker still staring at Moonracer as he folded down and offered her a ride on his back. She politely refused and transformed into a sleek, green vehicle that would have made any femme jealous. Of course, that was Elita excluded._

"_Optimus Prime, sir, may I ask if you have a medic back at your base?"_

"_Of course, the best. Why, may I ask?"_

"_My spark…is not very strong. I often have problems transforming."_

_As we watched, her alt-mode slowly locked up and she was forced to return to her bipedal mode. "I'm very sorry, I can find another way to Iacon, I don't want to slow you-"_

_Sunstreaker had driven up behind her and gently bumped her legs. She abruptly sat down and Sunstreaker shook slightly before shooting off ahead of us, Moonracer screaming on his hood._

_And for the first time in cycles, I laughed._

Yay, another update! PLEASE REVIEW!


	11. Those Twins

Chapter Eleven

_All for one and one for all  
My brother and my friend  
What fun we have  
The time we share  
Brothers 'til the end_

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We were born as one. Out of the seething, burning universe the world came to be. We are all siblings, with beating sparks and racing minds.

That was our philosophy for hundreds of thousands of vorns. And yet, here we are: slaying one another upon the battlefield. I turned to my twin.

"Sunny?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are we here?"

"Pit if I know... Ironhide wanted us down here."

Sunstreaker's spark was bitter with worry and revenge. Worry for Moonracer. Revenge for what he endured in Kaon. I felt my own spark race with his frustration as I opened my end of our bond. All Cybertronians could do this with siblings and mates. But then I saw fleeting images from his mind and knew there was something wrong. My spark hurt from the sorrow that was shared by us.

"Get out of my head!" Sunstreaker screamed at me, eyes flashing a dangerous violet. I stumbled, and consequently fell, backwards in shock. Sunny **never **blocked me.

"I-"

"Just stay out," he sighed, turning back to his post as we patrolled the undercity. The scars on his back were livid in the eerie purple light of Decagon's subterranean.

"_Floatilla? The Youth Sector?"_

"_Yes. It happened when you were just younglings, Bumblebee barely a few cycles old."_

"_Barricade is from Floatilla."_

"_Yes."_

"_But Barricade is Prowl's brother. Prowl is a Praxian."_

"_Don't pry into such things."_

Sideswipe did not know why that particular lecture from Optimus had come into his processor.

"Moonracer's with spark."

Oh.

"Um…congratulations?"

Sunny kept his back turned towards me, leaning heavily against a post.

"No."

"No what?"

"No congratulations. I'm going to send her to one of the colonies."

"What? Why?"

He didn't answer at first, and then he turned to me, only his sad blue optics visible in the shadows. I felt my own spark clench in guilt as he opened his mouth to answer.

"To protect her. From me and the Cons."

"Sunny, for Primus' sake… you aren't dangerous!" I pleaded, knowing it would destroy him if he sent Moonracer and their sparkling away.

Suddenly I was on the floor, a hand around my throat. Deep ruby optics bored into mine as Sunny began to squeeze unrelentingly.

"I could kill you with one hand if I wanted to Sideswipe," he snarled, picking me up and pressing me against the wall with an elbow joint. "It would be so easy…"

He backed away and went to sit on a box of crates. I went over and grabbed his shoulder and hauled him to his feet.

"C'mon, let's go see Optimus."

He followed, dazed.

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I was talking with Prowl when I heard a soft knock on my office door. I gave my SIC a questioning look and he shrugged.

"Come in!" I called out. I widened my optics in surprise when Sideswipe and Sunstreaker walked in.

"What did you two do this time?"Sighed Prowl, already pulling out an incident report.

"No, wait," I said, studying the pleading look on Sideswipe's face and the sheer terror in Sunstreaker's optics.

"Prowl…"

He took my hint and left without so much as a glance at the twins. I turned on them as soon as the door swished shut.

"What is it?"

They were both rather silent for a time and I waited patiently for them to speak. Finally, to my surprise, it was Sunstreaker that spoke up.

"I need to leave."

"Why?"

"…I…"

"Moonracer is with spark," said Sideswipe, daring me to judge his brother. I just sighed wearily.

"This is going to kill your mother."

I didn't bother calling Elita anything else. Though we had both raised the two mechs in front of me, she was more emotionally open to them.

"I didn't mean to hurt her," whispered Sunstreaker, his voice soft with guilt. Optimus managed to fold his massive frame down so he could peer into the elder of the twins' face.

"Sunstreaker, I raised you. I know that you love this femme very much and that you love Elita very much. I think I can manage to find housing for her close by to Decagon so you can stay close to Sideswipe."

"No!" pleaded Sunstreaker, grabbing my arms. "Please! It's too dangerous, 'Racer can't transform, the spark…spark…I can't protect them! Help me, please!"

It broke my spark, watching him sink to his knees and beg me to save his family. Primus willing, I was going to try-no I _would _do my damndest to help this lost mech. I slid back my mask and let him see my scarred smile.

"Peace young one, I'm not going to turn my younglings away. Sideswipe, fetch your mother. Sunstreaker, hail Moonracer over your bond. I'm sure she'd like to be here to decide how she'll be protected."

Sideswipe rushed off, a grin on his face. Sunstreaker looked at me in disbelief.

"I'm not in trouble?"

"You're a little young perhaps, for being a father, but this war makes you grow up fast. I have faith in you, Sunny."

And from the way he perked up, I knew he hadn't heard those words in a long, long time.

"Really?"

"Of course. The base could use another youngling, it's gotten much too quiet since you two and Bumblebee grew up."

This had the opposite reaction of what I was looking for. His optics grew dark with worry and fear.

"I can't Optimus. That spark can't grow up through what I went through. You and Elita did the best you could…but War is no place for sparklings. You have to let me try."

I sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that breem. "Sunstreaker-"

I paused and looked up when I sensed Elita standing on the other side of the door. It slid open to reveal my mate, Sideswipe and a soft green femme I knew to be Moonracer. Sunstreaker was immediately at her side when she stepped into the room with a brave, but I could sense intimidated, face.

"Optimus, what's wrong? Sideswipe nearly ripped my arm off, yelling about Sunstreaker and someone named Moonracer."

I looked at her in surprise. She didn't know about Sunstreaker's mate? I was _not _going to be the one to deliver that news.

"I believe Sunstreaker can best explain."

Elita turned to look at the elder twin. Her face was confused, but her cerulean optics were soft with love.

"This," said Sunstreaker, pulling Moonracer forward to stand beside him, "Is Moonracer. She is my mate…and we're going to have a sparkling."

Elita seemed torn for a moment between being furious that he hadn't told her and being overjoyed to see the mech who was in every aspect her son so happy. She simply flung her arms around the both of them, gently kissing Sunstreaker's helm.

"Dearspark, I know you're afraid, but we will take of you, alright? Moonracer, you can stay in the femme quarters until we get this settled out."

"Thank you very much, Elita One, ma'am" murmured the softspoken femme. Elita took the young femme's hands in her own and reassuringly stroked them.

"Please dear, just Elita. And that lugnut over there is just Optimus."

The two of them proceeded to giggle raucously over what I assumed was the sparkling. Sideswipe joined in, looking rather proud to be an uncle. I looked over to see Sunstreaker, still quiet and faced shadowed with displeasure. Before I could put a hand on his shoulder, however, he went over and rested his head on Moonracer's shoulder while she and Elita talked.

And for a moment, I was content.

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Just a little Sunstreaker moment I had to get out. Reviews are appreciated.


	12. Lost

Chapter Twelve

"_With some people solitariness is an escape not from others but from themselves. For they see in the eyes of others, the reflection of themselves." ~ Eric Hoffer_

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It is often Elita who suffers most for my responsibility. I am not only hers, I belong to all Autobots. Yes, she also has command of the femme regiment, but I command her in battle. Her life is in my hands. And that is a responsibility that causes me to feel so alone.

When my brother died, she was there to comfort me and I ran away for fear of putting her in harm's way.

When we bonded, I did not leave her side.

But then, I would leave her for thousands of vorns in order to save my people. I could have sent Ultra Magnus or even Rodimus in my stead, but I took responsibility and went myself.

Something I shall never forgive myself for.

_It was as if the entire base had fallen silent. I waited silently for Jazz's familiar voice to crackle over the comm. link to tell me we hadn't failed again._

"_Optimus Prime?"_

"_Go ahead."_

"_We are all clear! It is confirmed that Megatron will be at Tyger Pax exactly three orns from now!"_

_I relaxed in relief as my soldiers celebrated around me. Elita came over and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. I reached up and engulfed her delicate fingers in my hand. A gentle kiss was placed on my temple before she stepped back to allow me to speak. Oh, how their sparks would be crushed when I revealed what the mission was truly for._

"_Autobots, we have a great chance to save the planet from Megatron's wrath, but you must trust me when I tell you what it is. We are going to go to the Allspark temple, steal it, and shoot it out into space."_

_I felt Elita's spark crumple behind me, but I steeled myself and went on despite the murmurs and outcrys of disbelief that ran through the crowd._

"_It is the only way to keep it out of Megatron's hands," I said quietly, looking around at a group of about five hundred that a thousand vorns ago had nearly numbered two thousand and before that, Cybertron had millions of inhabitants._

"_Prime, I will lead the team to distract Megatron!"_

_I saw Ironhide and Chromia flinch beside me. It was Bumblebee who had stood up, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe at his sides._

"_Very well lieutenant Bumblebee. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, I expect you to help him accumulate a crew able to handle a task of that magnitude."_

"_Sir, yes, sir!" they chorused, bloodlust already glinting in Sunstreaker's eyes. As my troops disbanded to form their teams, I turned to the six beings I trusted most. Twelve battle-ready optics stared back._

"_Well Optimus, it's not the stupidest thing you've done, so I suppose we can help out," said Chromia, her hands on her hips. I looked over at Ratchet._

"_Oh, for Primus' sake! Don't give me that look! You know I have to come along to patch up that clumsy aft of yours."_

"_Affirmative," said Prowl, already drawing up battle strategies. "You are quite clumsy, sir."_

_I glared at him. He would pay for that later. Jazz however, beat me to it._

"_Get that pipe out of your aft Prowl. I'm ready to kick some 'Con aft. You can count on me Optimus!"_

_With that said, my optics fell on Elita and I knew the others had drawn back to give us some privacy. Elita's optics were terribly sad and I reached up and caressed her cheekbone with the back of my hand._

"_My love, why must you act as if you are alone?" she asked, holding my massive hand between her two dainty ones. "We are sparkmates, equal in every way. You must tell me when something so important troubles you."_

_She knew of what I spoke. Alpha Trion had entrusted us with his secrets about Cybertron. If the Allspark was gone too long, Cybertron would start to die._

"_Come," I said, holding out my hand for her to take. Elita did and we went out onto one of the few balconies Decagon had._

"_Look." I said, sweeping my hand over the city's skyline. "This war is destroying us. If we don't do something drastic, we will die, holed up on a dying planet."_

_I saw her eyes shift down to where I knew Sunstreaker had hidden Moonracer and their sparkling son, Stargazer, away. She loved the child almost as if he was her own. That was another thing I had failed to give Elita. I had let her raise the twins, but I refused to bring a child of our own into this world._

"_Optimus, all I want is for you to share your suffering with me. To make you happy. And if that means shooting the Allspark into the Primus-forsaken corners of the galaxy, then so be it. I will stand behind whatever you choose."_

And she had, but we had paid such a terrible price.

"_Bee? Bumblebee? BEE?"_

_I had searched so frantically for the little yellow bot when I heard that he had been silenced. That little yellow mech that I still saw as a youngling even though he was well into adulthood._

"_Optimus! Over here!"_

_I had followed Sunstreaker's crackling voice, Elita following close behind, and came upon a scene that still haunted my every thought when I spoke to Bumblebee._

_There he lay, sprawled on his back, optics dim from lack of energon and doorwings twisted and mangled beyond recognition. Even though every limb on his body was broken or marred somehow, those injuries seemed insignificant against the gaping hole in his throat, wires still sparking weakly where his voice mechanism had been. The puncture mark bore the mark of my brother, no doubting the evidence that sharp claws had torn the modulator out._

"_Oh, my little Bee," whispered Elita, kneeling to caress his head. The young mech tilted his helmet so she could reach his one intact antenna. I somberly opened up my comm. to call Ratchet. It was then that I heard the squealing of tires and a frantic Chromia flew by to kneel by her son._

"_Bee!" she managed to gasp out before starting to eerily whine as she saw his injuries. "Oh my sparkling…"_

The little bot I had helped raise lost his voice that day. He would not speak for nearly five hundred human years.

Voiceless.

He couldn't cry out in pain, or simply tell those he loves how much he cares for them. He couldn't even say hello.

It was how I felt as we drifted through space, seemingly on a lost cause, searching for the Allspark. It wasn't until we landed on earth that I felt hopeful enough to speak my true thoughts. And this was thanks to an exceptional human boy.

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Sad Chapter. Please Review.


	13. Not Alone

_Chapter Thirteen_

"_Come; look at this great canvas called the universe. Make your mark upon it as others have done before you and realize that in this vast world, it is impossible to be truly alone."_

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_A/N: A vorn is roughly equivalent to 65 earth years._

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It was upon a small rocky planet called 'Earth' that we found the Allspark. It is a strange planet, dusty like many of the worlds in this solar system and full of vegetation and metal alike. The most unusual aspect of this planet, however, is its people.

They call themselves humans. They are small, rather shoddily built and they die very young.

But they are strong in spirit. Especially the one who calls himself Samuel James Witwicky.

_I fell through the atmosphere, feeling my protoform heat up as the oxygen rich air reacted to the speed at which I was falling. And then I thudded into the soft ground, dirt shooting up in waves as I carved a path into the foreign planet._

'_Where am I?' I think, unfolding myself and shaking my metal frame free of debris. 'Have I landed close enough to where the human male lives?'_

_Suddenly, my sensors beep and I turn to see two humans staring in awe at me. I move, running towards what appears to be a route of transportation, scanning for a vehicle to transform into. They are all too small for me, but one is close enough for me to try. I fold down, feeling my colors shift to match the vehicle to the last detail._

_I test my new engine, slowly joining up with the traffic on the road so I can blend in. I'm curious as to what I'm currently wearing, so I tap into the information center this world call the 'internet'. On it, I find that I've taken the form of something called a 'Semi-Truck'. The words are strange and long compared to Cybertronian. I do another search, finding that the language of the place I've landed in is called 'English'._

_How strange. Their land was called America, why did they not speak American?_

"_Optimus? Optimus Prime, sir, can you hear me?"_

"_Affirmative Jazz. En route to meeting point, ETA five breems."_

_I sped up, weaving in and out of the humans driving. Ah, I suppose I should make a holoform so I would not stick out too much. I searched thousands of pictures at once, until I came across the image of a man that I like. His name was Peter Cullen._

"_Optimus, this is Ironhide. I've located Ratchet and we're on our way."_

"_Copy that."_

"_What?"_

_Oh, I had spoken English. "__**Copy that**__," I repeated in Cybertronian._

"_**What language are you speaking**__?"_

"_**The humans call it **__English."_

"_Eeeenglish?"_

"_**Yes. Search on their information highway called the **__internet.__** There should be plenty of **__English __**for you to download on there.**__"_

"_**Will do sir."**_

_I chuckled when his comm. link disconnected with mine. Ironhide sounded ridiculous speaking English. No matter, I was almost to the rendezvous. I drove up the small alley, my tires splashing in the dirty water on the road. When I saw Bumblebee parked next to the two humans, I stopped and transformed into my bipedal mode. _

_It took a few klicks longer than usual since I was unused to so many parts to a vehicle. When I was fully transformed, I knelt down to come face to face with the human male. He was so small!_

"_Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?"_

"_Y-yes."_

"_I am Optimus Prime. We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron."_

"_But you can call us Autobots," said Ratchet, trying to quell the humans' fear. I nodded to him._

"_Ratchet, our medical officer."_

_I saw him sniff and resisted the urge to pinch my nasal plates in annoyance. He was getting ready to diagnose something._

"_The boy's pheromone levels indicate he wants to mate with the female."_

_I sighed and moved on to Ironhide._

"_My weapon's specialist, Ironhide."_

"_You feelin' lucky, punk?" he growled, whipping out his pride and joy: the infamous plasma cannons._

"_Easy Ironhide," I murmured, watching the one called Samuel put himself in front of the female in a protective stance._

"_Just kidding. I just wanted to show him my cannons."_

_Aft. I turned to Jazz._

"_My lieutenant, designation: Jazz."_

"_What's crackin' little bitches? This looks like a cool place to kick it." he said while flipping onto a car behind him. Showoff._

"_W-where'd you learn to talk like that?" asked Samuel, speaking for the first time since I started explaining who we were._

"_We've learned Earth's languages through the World-Wide-Web."_

_He nodded nervously. I turned at last to Bumblebee, a huge smile on my face._

"_You already know your guardian, Bumblebee."_

_He played a track of music that I assumed was from Earth. I turned back to the boy. The girl stepped forward instead._

"_Why are you here?"_

"_We are here looking for the Allspark. And we must find it before Megatron."_

"_Mega-what?"_

_I prepared myself for having to talk about my brother. I tapped the side of my head, deciding a visual would help as well. As the tall towers of our homeworld sprung up, I began my explanation._

"_Our planet was once a powerful empire, peaceful and just, until we were betrayed by Megatron, leader of the Decepticons. All who defied them were destroyed. Our war finally consumed the planet, and the Allspark was lost to the stars. Megatron followed it to Earth, where Captain Witwicky found him…"_

"_My grandfather…" whispered Samuel, disbelief in his eyes. I shut off my hologram, sorrow and amusement battling for dominance in my spark._

"_It was an accident that intertwined our fates. Megatron crash-landed before he could retrieve the cube. He accidentally activated his navigation system. The coordinates to the Cube's location on Earth were imprinted on his glasses."_

_Thank Primus Megatron hadn't awoken yet._

"_How did you know about the glasses?"_

_I searched my processor for the word. "eBay."_

"_eBay."_

_I nodded at him. Ratchet stepped forward, and I knew he was getting impatient._

"_If the Decepticons find the Allspark, they will use its power to transform Earth's machines and build a new army."_

_I stepped in again. "And the human race will be extinguished."_

"_So, we're talking some serious shit here, aren't we?" he said, sudden determination on his face._

"_Yes, we are talking…some serious shit."_

_For some reason, the two of them laughed. I could see why Ratchet was so frustrated._

"_You hold the key to Earth's survival Samuel Witwicky, this is no laughing matter."_

_I was satisfied when the two of them straightened up, serious again. The girl turned to Samuel._

"_I really hope you still have those glasses."_

And this human, this child, is still one of the most inspiring beings I have ever met. He reminds me of Elita, when she gets that look in her optics while she's defending the Twins from Decepticons to the daily stress of life or when she's being stubborn about something with me: different emotions, but always that same fierce look of unyielding determination.

There came a time after the battle of Mission City, which I suppose all younglings of every species go through, when he became rather rebellious and started to doubt himself as our friend.

_I waited patiently at the N.E.S.T base at Diego Garcia for Sam to arrive with Bumblebee before he left with his parents to go and visit his grandparents for the Earth holiday of Thanksgiving. From what I knew, they lived in a small town just outside of the city of Chicago and Sam didn't want them involved in our war. I respected his wishes, after all, if I could have kept my family out of the war, I would have._

"_Optimus, they're here."_

_I nodded at Major Lennox. He too was going home to visit his family for the holiday. I walked outside into the balmy air of the island to greet the approaching yellow vehicle that was my youngest soldier. He sped forward, skidded, and dumped a rather disheveled Sam out of his passenger seat._

"_What the hell man?" the teen shouted, clambering to his feet. Bumblebee transformed rather quickly and rushed over to apologize to Sam._

"_It's okay Bee. I was just a little surprised is all."_

_I stepped forward to greet them._

"_Sam. Bumblebee."_

"_What's up Optimus?"_

"_The sky…ah, I see. Another one of your Earth sayings. I am well, thank you."_

_Sam chuckled, following us into the hangar and out of the hot sun. He looked around at our home base, whistling in appreciation._

"_Nice place. I wish they'd give you guys a little more room to move around though."_

"_For the time being, this is more than enough, but thank you Sam."_

_It was then that I saw Bumblebee spot the four protoforms being debriefed in the far left corner. His optics lit up with recognition and he chirped excitedly. Looking back at me, he raised his doorwings and antennae in question. I nodded, chuckling as he sprinted across the hanger to envelop the other four in a hug._

"_Who're they? More Autobots?"_

"_Yes. Very old friends. The tall red one is Sideswipe. His twin Sunstreaker has yet to arrive. The other three are femmes named Arcee, Chromia and Flareup I-"_

"_Whoa! Whoa, you mean you have females?" exclaimed Sam, his eyes wide. I smirked._

"_Yes Sam. Although many of us were sparked from the Allspark, I myself was born of a femme and a mech. Speaking of which, wait until Ironhide sees that Chromia has arrived. He hasn't seen her for nearly a thousand of your human years."_

"_Is she his girlfriend or something?"_

_I laughed. "No, they haven't been that young in a long time. She's his sparkmate. What you would probably consider a spouse."_

_Sam listened with obvious fascination as I went to sit down against the was of the hangar, thoughts of Elita racing through my processor. It made my spark ache that she hadn't appeared with Chromia and the others, who had offered condolences and explained that she had refused to leave our dying planet without Sunstreaker, who had apparently been missing for a good sixty vorns._

"_Do you have a sparkmate?"_

_The question drove a spike of ice through my spark, but I knew he was just curious._

"_Yes," I breathed, an image of her smiling face appearing in front of my optics. "Her name is Elita-One."_

"_Is she hot?"_

_I glared down at him. "Samuel…"_

"_I get it, don't worry. I have to drive men off of Mikaela too. She must be beautiful if you're so upset."_

"_She is," I said. "More beautiful than anything."_

_I saw Sam smile softly out of my peripheral vision and I couldn't help my fondness for the boy. Our conversation was interrupted, however, by Ironhide rolling into the hangar. I stood up, placing Sam on my shoulder so he could have a clear view._

"_Watch. She'll beat the slag out of him at first, and then they'll go off somewhere to 'make-out' as you humans call it."_

_It took a moment for Ironhide to notice, as he was deep in conversation with Sergeant Epps, but then I saw the shudder go through him and I knew it was his spark sensing Chromia's. I dreamt of the day I could do that with Elita. He turned and saw her taking on her alt. mode, a blue motorcycle. When she transformed back into her bipedal mode, her optics had found his and the look that passed between them was so private I looked away and told Sam to do so as well._

"_What's he doing?"_

"_They're probably communicating telepathically. It's quite easy for sparkmate's and twins to do and most siblings in general when they're young. Mothers have also been known to do that with their sparklings. Now watch."_

"_I bet you twenty bucks she goes for his lugnuts first."_

"_I disagree. She'll go for the faceplate." She always did._

"_You're on."_

_Now we watched with increased interest as they slowly approached each other, oblivious to the outside world. To my surprise, Chromia flung herself at him first, wrapping her slender arms around Ironhide's bulky neck. He hugged her back, curving his arms so that her head was rested under his chin. They pulled back a moment later. Then she slugged him in the face._

"_Dammit!" Sam swore, digging around in his pocket for the money. I told him to keep it and heard them switch over to Cybertronian so they could whisper to each other. _

"_What're they saying?"_

_I refused to answer. Those words were not for any sane being to hear. I shuddered, tuning them out._

"_Trust me, you don't want to know."_

"_So, can you take me over to the others?"_

_I walked over, giving Ironhide and Chromia a wide berth as they transformed and raced out of the hangar to Primus knows where. A startled Epps just shook his head._

"_I'm getting' too old for this shit."_

_I smirked, going on to join the group of young Autobots in the corner. Sideswipe was the first to greet me, giving me an enthusiastic embrace._

"_It's good to see you Optimus," he said, smiling up at me. I patted his head._

"_You too Sideswipe. At least you're one less thing for me to worry about. Although, I guess I shouldn't get ahead of myself."_

"_You're right. I've got seven vorns of pranks to unleash."_

"_I can't wait," I muttered, reaching up to let Sam stand in my hand. "May I introduce Samuel James Witwicky."_

"_This is the human who killed Megatron?"_

"_Yes."_

_He eyed Sam carefully in the way that was more Sunstreaker than him, and finally grinned._

"_You'll do kid."_

"_Uh, thanks?"_

_We went on to see the two femmes Bumblebee was talking to. The young bot got excited when he saw Sam and eagerly pulled me forward to introduce him to Arcee. Sam grinned._

"_Whoa Bee, it's almost like you're introducing me to your__** girlfriend.**__"_

_I was impressed at Sam's ability to imitate our word for 'beloved' and the two femmes giggled at Bumblebee's embarrassed expression._

"_Yo dawg, that ain't cool!" was the clip he used to express his slight annoyance at his human charge. He went on with the introductions though, and I explained for him._

"_This is Arcee, a professional spy and talented scientist. She worked with our Chief Engineer, Wheeljack, before we left to search for the Allspark. And the lovely femme beside her is Flareup."_

"_Still kissing aft I see Optimus."_

"_Now Flareup, why must you treat me that way?"_

"_Because you're mated to my sister, that's why aftshaft."_

"_Oh I like her," said Sam, laughing at my scowl. _

_I hadn't seen Flareup since Elita and I were in school before the war. She was Elita's older sister and had run off several vorns later to join the Colonies. She only came back once to reluctantly congratulate us on being bonded and to threaten to do unspeakable things to my interface if I made her cry._

"_Yes, she's such a _wonderful _sister-in-law," I grumbled, frowning even harder._

"_Well, are you going to introduce us to this human or what?"_

"_Very well. Ladies, I would like you to meet Sam Witwicky."_

"_The boy who-"_

"_Yes, I killed Megatron. The dude was an asshole. I just did what any of the people on this base would have done in my position. Jeez, now I know how Harry Potter feels."_

"_I see," said Flareup, putting her hands on her hips. "A chauvinist aftshaft just like the rest of your miserable sex are you?"_

"_What are you, some Fem-nazi lesbian?" Sam shot back, his temper rising._

_I sighed, mentally preparing for another speech that would point out anything and everything that was wrong with males._

"_Why you rude, sexist, idiotic slaggard! I am Flareup, sister of Elita One and former Lady of the Katarn Colony. You will respect me!"_

"_Why should I? You haven't done anything but insult me!"_

_I silently applauded him. Flareup fell silent at this, unused to being met with logic instead of anger. Bumblebee had begun to whine quietly at their raised voices and I put a reassuring hand on his shoulder._

"_And another thing-your sister is Optimus' sparkmate, right? Shouldn't you be comforting him about her being gone? Instead of calling him an asshole, you should be working with him to find her."_

"_Why should I listen to you?"_

"_Because I know what it's like to not know if someone I love is okay. Now apologize!"_

_I watched in awe as Flareup lowered her antennae in submission and knelt down to look Sam in the eyes._

"_I will…take it into consideration, Samuel James Witwicky."_

_And she stood up, and started to walk away. Before she left, however, she put a hand on Bumblebee's shoulder and smiled._

"_Don't worry little one. Chromia will be back for you, I promise."_

_She didn't look at me, but I suppose it was the most I was going to get of an apology. Flareup hadn't liked me for putting Elita in danger by mating with her, she had hated me for letting her fight, and she would never forgive me for leaving Elita by herself back on Cybertron._

_Not that I would either._

_Surprisingly, Ironhide and Chromia returned much earlier than expected that evening and when she caught sight of Bumblebee, she broke out into a full run. Although she was a good five feet shorter and quite a bit slimmer than her son, Chromia seemed to be able to fit her arms around Bumblebee and made it look as if she was the one cradling him rather than the other way around. After a long hug, she drew back and pulled Bumblebee's face down to inspect him._

"_My little Bee, you're so handsome now! And not too badly hurt, although I heard you and your father were rather reckless a few years ago. But you're still in one piece and I love you."_

_Bumblebee chirruped and purred when she scratched his helmet just beside his right antennae, his favorite spot. When she stopped, Bumblebee turned and picked Sam up to introduce him to her._

"_Hello Samuel," whispered Chromia, holding out her finger for him to shake. "Bumblebee tells me that you're a very special person; brave and determined. Thank you for taking care of my son. Even though he did not come from my spark, he is precious to me. It is an honor to meet someone so precious to him."_

"_It's an honor to meet my best friend's mother."_

"_Oh I like him."_

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_I thought we could use a little humor after all the serious stuff._

_I love, love, love Chromia. She's one of my favorite characters to write. PLEASE REVIEW!_


	14. Savior

_Chapter 14_

"_But some emotions don't make a lot of noise. It's hard to hear pride. Caring is real faint- like a heartbeat. And pure love – why, some days it's so quiet, you don't even know it's there."_

_~ unknown_

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_Vorn= 83 years_

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My name.

What is my name?

Empty space, nothing but the black coldness. Alone! You are forever alone!

Abandoned!

Unloved!

**Unworthy!**

Who are you? Who am I? My name, my name, MY NAME?

"_Optimus."_

Such a soft voice…mother?

"_No. Elita."_

Elita? Such a beautiful name. I remember it from somewhere…

"_Optimus…"_

That word again. So strange. It had to be a name. Whose name?

"_It's you, silly."_

Me…Optimus? I couldn't possibly have such a strange name. I'm just me. Alone in the world and forever unwanted.

"Alone, alone, alone" I softly sang.

"_I love you. Your brother loved you."_

Brother. I shied away from the word, pain shooting through my chest at it.

Claws.

A blade.

Sparks, a blue liquid, pain, fear and then…here; this nothingness and solitude.

"Dead," I whispered. "I'm dead."

"_No Optimus, not dead, merely in stasis lock."_

Who is Optimus? I am not Optimus! Who am I?

"_You're our leader. You're my sparkmate. You are our hope. You are Optimus Prime!"_

_**Awake! You should be awake! **_

Sam.

Who…?

_**The human you idiot! Wake up! Wake up!**_

You're not Elita.

_**Of course not! I'm your damn ancestor! Now get your aft up! That world needs you!**_

Hot! Burning energy coursed through my frame, jolting my optics open to bright sunlight and Samuel James Witwicky.

"Optimus! You've gotta get up! Up!"

I groaned, sitting up and immediately falling forward on my hands and knees. Sam was still yelling, hysterical as he hurried me along.

"C'mon, you can do it! The Fallen is here Optimus! You're the only one who can-!"

Suddenly I felt an enormous jolt of electricity and power and suddenly I felt as if I could do anything. A certain quote I had once heard off a T.V. show came into my head.

"Let's Roll!"

I felt alive.

No, I **was **alive. Alive and wanted.

"Sunstreaker?" I cried, clambering over the rubble to see him lying prone under a pile of metal slag. He didn't make a sound, but reached for me, his hand enclosing my tiny one.

"Mom…"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"They're dead!" he howled, his voice strangled as he sobbed, his face curling in agony. "I sent them away on the ships and it exploded! Dead! She's dead! My little one, dead!"

What could I do? Optimus wasn't here to help me. But I was Elita One, commander of the femme ranks in the Autobot army. I would be able to do it.

"Sunny," I crooned, stroking his head. "You mustn't give up. I still need you. Your brother needs you. Cybertron needs you."

"Go to the pit. I don't care about the Primus-damned War anymore. I just want to die so I can be with my family."

I slapped him. Hard.

"You're my son! I won't let you die! You're coming with me and that's that!" I screamed, using the last of my strength to haul him out from under the carnage.

"I searched and searched for vorns for you! I left my soldiers to look for you! If you die, after all I've done, I'll never forgive you!"

This seemed to shock some sense into Sunstreaker, as his blue eyes slowly turned back to Kaon red. He grinned at me. A horrible grin, full of hate and revenge, but a grin nonetheless.

"Alright. You've got a deal. I get to kill all the Cons I want, and I won't die."

It troubled me…but how could I refuse?

"Agreed. Now come on brat, I've got Wheeljack waiting back at the base with a ship."

"Old woman."

"Turbo-revving young punk!"

And I saw him truly smile and it made my spark swell with happiness.

Pain! Horrible pain in my spark.

"Optimus!" I cried out, falling to my knees. Sunstreaker knelt down, putting comforting hands on my arms.

"Mom?"

"Optimus," I moaned, clutching at my chest.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's dead! He has to be!" I whispered, staring blankly into the distance, trying to see a place light-years away. It made me frustrated that I was acting this way in front of Sunstreaker.

"C'mon, you can get up! You have to! We'll go get Optimus and you'll see that he's fine! You'll see mom! Mom!"

But despite the disgust I had in myself, I couldn't stop my processor from shutting down or my optics going dark. The last thing I saw was the bot I called my son…and then blackness.

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"_Elita, if mom sees you staring again she's going to make you clean out the little one's waste tanks!"_

"_Flareup!"_

_I felt my cheeks heat up, knowing they were glowing orange as I watched the young mech across the classroom laugh and joke with his friend. I knew who he was, Primus who didn't? But I was too shy to go and say hello to him. I felt my older sister's optics burning holes in my helm and knew there was no chance to talk to him anyway._

"_Um, excuse me ladies, but I was wondering if either of you had a stylus I could borrow? I'm afraid my older brother borrowed mine earlier today."_

_I looked up, startled to see Optimus Prime standing at my desk, rubbing his neck abashedly._

"_No," Flareup flatly replied, glaring at him. I suddenly felt determined and I smiled at him._

"_Sure. Hold on a klick."_

_I bent down, rummaging in my bag, only to have it tip over and spill all over the stairs that ran in-between the lecture hall's seating._

"_Slag!" I muttered. I immediately clapped my hands over my mouth with a squeak._

"_I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to say that in front of you!"_

_And he smiled, acting as if nothing happened and gently began picking up my data pads and holo-books and stacking them back in my bag like he did it everyday._

"_Thank you," I murmured, taking my bag from him. There was that smile again, soft and genuine._

"_Your welcome, Elita."_

_He knew my name! Already I could see myself by his side, his equal, as I helped him with whatever came our way._

"_Is this stylus okay to borrow?"_

_I jolted out of my daydream, watching as he fished my other pink stylus out of my bag's pocket. He could have been holding up my wax can and I would have said yes._

"_Of course!"_

The memory faded away, leaving her in the cold darkness of her recharging processor. Bright flashes of light erupted from her spark and she could hear distant screaming as what her mate was experiencing flowed through their bond. A particularly violent explosion left her audios reeling and she slipped back into her memories.

"_WHAT?" thundered Flareup, her auburn optics flaring as she talked to Elita over the video comm. _

"_Optimus and I are bonded. You should come and visit us. Ironhide and Chromia are throwing us a party," I replied, concentrating on keeping my tone even. "He wants to see you again."_

_My sister was deathly silent as she studied me, her face dangerously neutral._

"_Only for you, Elita," she hissed, scowling again. "But I'm not happy about it. It's too dangerous! He's Prime and now those crazy aft Decepticons will go after you to get to him!"_

"_That's a risk I'm willing to take."_

"_A stupid risk!"_

_Now I was angry. "Do you really find my happiness so stupid? I love him! Why can't you just be happy for me?"_

_This made her reel back in shock and I felt bad for yelling at her. "Please Flareup, just one visit and then you can go home."_

"_Alright, fine."_

_Three cycles later, I was waiting with Optimus and the usual entourage at the transport station for her. I laced my fingers through Optimus' and he smiled down at me, although the only way I could tell was because his optics narrowed. He was still reluctant to go out in public without his mask on. Not that there was much of a public out to see at this time of night._

"_There she is!" cried Chromia, pointing towards the last transport to come in for the night. She was just as excited as I was; Flareup was an old student of hers._

"_Yeah, well, she'd better hurrah up," grumbled Ironhide, his accent still finding its way into his speech when he was annoyed. "Too dangerous to be out here so late."_

_But all of our attention turned to the femme approaching us from the open doors of the shuttle. She was tall, her armor still the familiar shade of royal purple as she strode across the platform with her same old walk that told everyone she was always in that mood._

"_Flareup!" I cried running and hugging her. To my relief she put her arms around me too and swung me around once._

"_Hey there yourself, Midget," she teased, flicking my antennae. "I see you've gotten quite fashionable living in the big city."_

"_Just because you decided to move out to the boondocks doesn't mean I want to. It's high time you updated your armor as well."_

_She laughed, waving to Chromia as I led her over, but frowning as Optimus stepped forward to say hello. Standing at nearly 36 feet now, he usually intimidated most, but Flareup strode right up to him and poked him in the chest._

"_Still that same old gangly loser from school huh? Just got a little taller and a little more authoritative. You'd better be taking good care of my sister!"_

"_Flareup!" I wailed, my cheeks heating up in embarrassment. "Be nice! He's your brother-in-law!"_

"_No, no, it's alright Lita," said Optimus, still smiling and sticking out his hand for Flareup to shake. She scrutinized him even more and crossed her arms._

"_I'm not doing a slagging thing until I can see your face."_

_I saw Optimus blanch and I knew Ironhide had caught it and would be cursing my sister out in a nano-klick if he thought she was going to be ugly to Optimus._

"_Well, why don't we get back to the transport?" I suggested, taking Optimus' hand and motioning for Flareup to follow as we settled down inside. Optimus looked down at me with pleading blue eyes and I shook my head._

"_No darling, you don't have to take your mask off."_

_He sighed in relief and I leant up to kiss his helm. He purred and I saw Flareup shutter her optics in disgust. Just because her mech had left her for another femme…_

"_Hey, crankpot, whose your weapon's master out there in the Katarn Colony?" asked Chromia, coming to my rescue._

"_A mech named Thundercracker. He and his flying buddies do a pretty good job too."_

_Everyone froze; even Prowl who was driving the transport stopped the vehicle with a jolt. Flareup looked at all of us._

"_What?"_

_I stayed silent, pressing myself against Optimus. Did I really distrust her that much, to think that she would hurt him?_

"_Those are Decepticons, you idiot!" thundered Chromia, standing up and aiming her gun. "You've got three klicks to convince me you're not here to kill Optimus!"_

_And I could only watch as they ruthlessly grilled my sister about her colony. I felt only the slightest guilt, but if it meant keeping Optimus safe, I would give anything. Once Chromia and Ironhide were satisfied Flareup had nothing to do with their presence, they sat back down, but kept their weapons close._

"_Look, I could care less about what you crazies are up to down here. Everyone in Katarn is a neutral, but since my idiot sparkling sister decided to mate the with the Primus damned leader of the Autobots, then I certainly wouldn't do anything to help the Decepticons hurt her."_

I hadn't seen her since that day, nearly sixty-thousand vorns ago. And now…now I felt Optimus' spark getting stronger and felt enormous relief now that I knew he would live. But that small corner of my spark where I could normally sense the faintest presence of Flareup's spark was quiet. It no longer gently hummed with her life force and, call it a sister's instinct; I knew she had been killed.

'_Goodbye sister.'_

What was I going to tell Elita? What would she say when I told her that her only sister was now just half a body, cold and dead?

"Optimus, you can't protect everyone," said Chromia, her own faceplate pinched in worry for Arcee, unconscious and in deep stasis in the next room.

"But I should be able to."

She had opened her mouth to say something else, but we were interrupted by Bumblebee and Sideswipe racing around the corner and dumping out Sam, Sarah Lennox and her daughter Annabelle. Before I could chastise the young twin, though, Sarah was already herding him into a corner.

"Listen here young man, if you e_ver _dump my baby out like that again, you'll be my new dishwasher in my kitchen, you hear me?"

"Yes ma'am," whispered Sideswipe, barely loud enough for me to hear, let alone a human.

"What was that?" she demanded, hands on hips.

"Yes ma'am!"

"Good! Now get your ass to the wash racks, you're filthy!"

Sideswipe hurried to obey Sarah and made a comment to her husband as he passed by.

"She's one crazy aft femme!"

But Captain Lennox ignored him and held out his arms for his toddling daughter. She giggled and squealed when she saw him and curled into his neck when he picked her up.

"Hello Mrs. Lennox," I intoned, nodding to her. She smiled back and waved, turning to talk to Ironhide when he approached.

"Hey there rustbucket, how's it going?"

"Good to see you too, Sarah."

They bantered on for a few more moments before Chromia came over to introduce herself and Sarah watched her with wide eyes.

"Hello," said Chromia, kneeling down to coo at Annabelle. "My name is Chromia. I'm Ironhide's…what's the human word 'Hide?"

"Wife."

"Yes, that one."

"Ironhide, she's beautiful! Why didn't you ever tell me about her?"

Ironhide grew fidgety and rubbed the back of his neck. "I…well, you see-she-I-umm…"

"Ironhide, were you, _jealous?_" asked Lennox, his eyebrow raised. "What's the matter, thought I would steal her from you?"

"No, I-"

Bumblebee chirruped and I agreed with him. Ironhide had been extremely worried about his sparkmate and had felt uncomfortable sharing information about her. Not that he'd ever admit it. Sensing this, the two females turned to Sam and Bumblebee with motherly scrutiny, sharply observing the thick layer of dust on both of them, and the casual clothes in Sam's case.

"Goodness, that's not what you're wearing to meet the President, are you?" said Sarah, futilely trying to brush off his shirt.

"…No?"

"Well, Bumblebee, you're getting a bath whether you like it or not! Sam can join us too! There's a human-sized tub in the barracks as well," said Chromia, grabbing Bumblebee by the antenna.

"But Mrs. Lennox!"

Bumblebee chattered and pleadingly looked over at Ironhide.

"And what do ya think you're going to accomplish looking over here? Listen to your mother!"

They were both led away, protesting in every way possible, but I knew femmes and they were relentless when in came to things like that. Captain Lennox just laughed and bounced his daughter.

"Good thing Daddy looks good, or Mommy would be pulling his ear too, huh?"

Little Annabelle nodded, giggling softly as her father took him over to where some of the toughest men on the planet were turned into doting babysitters as the little blonde girl smiled shyly and let a triumphant Epps sit her on his lap. The other men fished their coveted treats out of their many pockets and slipped the toddler a few pieces of forbidden candy before her mother could see.

"Hey Optimus, Ironhide, come join us!" called out one of the men, motioning for us to sit and watch what appeared to be a football game on the projection screen. "The Prez won't show up for another two hours, let's watch some sports!"

I couldn't argue with that, and I sat down, letting Ironhide try to explain a game I would never understand while I kept thinking about the motionless bodies of Jetfire and Flareup in the next room.

But I could feel Elita's spark again, and it was a wonderful feeling.

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Yay! Please Review, or I'll send Sarah Lennox after you!


	15. Perhaps it was meant to be

_Chapter 15_

"_True, we don't have anything such as "fate"._

_It's only those who drunk in ignorance and fear_

_And stumbled over their own feet_

_That fell and disappeared among the muddy rivers_

_Known as "fate"." ~ Tite Kubo_

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"But Sam, I do not understand why they keep skipping back and forth."

"Chill Optimus. It's showing Bruce Wayne now and when he's younger."

"Ah."

But I didn't understand. It was hard to keep up with this 'Batman' character. So far I had only seen bats when the human child had fallen down the well.

"…and why do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up."

Those words jolted my spark, making memories of Sentinel dance across my processor.

"_Sentinel, where's our Mama and Daddy?"_

"_They had to go far away when you were just a sparkling. We'll see them someday, many vorns from now."_

"_Oh. When?"_

And I hadn't understood the look in his optics back then, but now I knew it was the same look I gave Sideswipe every time he asked for news of his brother; sad and with that longing for a normal life, where I didn't have to be the bearer of such news.

_Memories. Memories of father, the one time I had seen my real one. And how much he didn't look like Sentinel. When I realized we didn't share the same father._

"_Optimus, my son…"_

"_I'm not your son. You never loved me, neither did mother."_

"_Maybe not your mother, but I have always loved you, little Optimus. Or Orion as I would have named you."_

"_Whatever. Now that Sentinel's dead, there's no one who cares."_

"_You're wrong. You have many people who care about you."_

_And I had thought of Ironhide and his gruff, but gentle, way of making me feel confident. Memories of how Ratchet was never quite as impatient with me as he was with everyone else…of Elita smiling and holding my hand as we strolled through the streets of downtown Iacon._

"_Father…"_

"_I understand. Remember, we fall, but you are a Prime. It is in your spark to go on for the sake of your people. You must pick yourself up, ignore the pain and lead."_

"Optimus? You okay big guy?"

"Wha-? Oh, yes Samuel, I am fine."

"Good. Now that you've spaced out through yet another movie, why don't I go see what Bumblebee's up to and you can come with me so you finally get out of that office of yours."

"Sounds good."

And I followed him, still slightly 'spaced out' as Sam said, but careful to miss the various humvees scattered about for target practice later. We came upon Bumblebee and Sideswipe being held down by Ironhide as Ratchet attempted do their routine matinence.

"Slaggin' younglings! You're both adults, why are you making this so difficult?" roared Ratchet, slinging wrenches everywhere as he struggled to find the right instruments.

"Because it slagging hurts you old bit-brained fragger!"

"Say that one more time and you'll be reformatted as my waste tank, punk!"

Bumblebee started to click, whirr and buzz at lightning speed and I knew there were curses streaming out of his mouth that would make the most hardened criminal's audios burn. Ironhide turned to his son and grabbed him by the antenna much like Chromia did.

"Say that word again and ah'll turn you over my knee until your paint burns off."

Both of them immediately fell silent, lying still as Sam waited patiently on one of the other berths in the Med Bay.

"Hmm," murmured Ratchet, studying the inside of Sideswipe's chest. "You're suffering from a slight viral infection and your spark is beginning to show long term effects from spark separation. Just how long have you and Sunstreaker been apart now?"

"120 vorns, one meta-cycle, three orns, four joors, thirty-six breems and fifteen klicks."

We all stared. He began to rattle it off again, this time in Earth measurements.

"Ten thousand years, thirteen months, thrity-nine days, four hours, 298. 8 minutes and fifteen seconds."

"Dude, that's just weird," said Sam, shaking his head as he went over to sit on Bumblebee's shoulder.

I didn't think so. I thought in similar terms of when I had last seen Elita.

"Sideswipe, this is serious. You are going to start feeling excruciating pain at intervals in a few human years if Sunstreaker does not arrive soon. Take it from me watching others; it is not a small pain either."

"No," said Ironhide before I could speak, "It is not."

"Bumblebee, you're free to go. Sam and Optimus go with him. Ironhide-"

"No!" cried Sideswipe, reaching out to latch onto my arm. "I-I mean, Optimus, sir…"

"I'd be glad to stay Sideswipe. Go on you three."

Ironhide nodded and ushered the two younglings out with a firm push. Ratchet turned to face Sideswipe and me.

"Optimus, you're next. But first, Sideswipe I want you to sit still while I download the anti-virus into your systems before you get a fever."

"Dad…"

I looked down in surprise. Sideswipe was the only one to call me that and he hadn't since he was about 800 vorns old.

"Yes?"

"Sunstreaker's so far away… even farther than Cybertron. Something's wrong. He was supposed to be with mom and the others."

"Don't worry; I'm sure Elita will take care of him. She wouldn't let anything happen to him."

But Sideswipe did not look so sure. I had been close to Sentinel, but twins were different. Such strange beings they were among us. They were rumored to be even closer than sparkmates. While sparkmates exchanged small pieces of their spark with each other, twins were of the same spark split in two. There was this intimacy they shared that no other life form felt on Cybertron. They were one soul stretched between two bodies.

"I'm not him."

Ratchet and I both looked up.

"I'm not Sunstreaker. I see it on everyone's faces. They want to believe that where I am, so is he. But we _are _two different people. I will never be him and he'll never be me."

"I know that," said Ratchet, glaring at the younger of the twins. "Your spark is weaker than your brother's. Don't think I don't know about that femme you were interfacing with back home. That's not the only reason though. You're younger, the part of the spark that split away. If you-"

He suddenly turned around and threw a wrench with dangerous accuracy at a cowering Arcee and Bumblebee.

"OUT!"

They scrambled to obey, tittering softly as they fled, laughing out loud once they reached the hallway.

"Younglings these days, I swear!"

Sideswipe suddenly sat up, audios clicking as he studied around us. He then took off, his feet spinning into wheels as he ran.

"Get back here dammit!" cursed Ratchet as we ran behind him. But I felt excitement in my spark. If Sideswipe had sensed who I thought he had, then Elita must be…

"Optimus Prime, sir, inbound unidentified aircraft! Alien in origin, and presumed enemy until otherwise proven!"

"Stand down everyone!" I ordered, holding them back as Sideswipe raced out to the shore of Diego Garcia, where a brightly shining protoform could be seen falling a few miles out.

Sideswipe turned to look back at us and nodded, pointing excitedly out as the protoform landed with a colossal splash. He raced out into the water until it came up to his waist. We waited, but Sunstreaker did not come up. Sensing something was wrong, I ran out to the water, walking where Sideswipe's fifteen foot height did not allow him to go. In the steaming water, my optics were able to pick up Sunstreaker's half-transformed body and I bent, scooping him up.

"Ratchet, we need you stat! He's injured, badly!"

I rushed inland, Sideswipe following close behind, and handed Sunstreaker off to Ironhide.

"Go! I'll stay behind to monitor any other incoming protoforms."

He gave me a knowing look, but hurried to obey Ratchet howling orders. I frantically turned back to the sky, watching for any other signs of atmospheric disturbance, but the evening sky remained calm.

Please. Just this once, let me have something I want. I will give anything just to see her again!

But the fates were against me this day. Despite knowing in my spark that Elita would not be arriving tonight, I sat outside anyway. Several hours later, I heard footsteps and I turned to see Sideswipe with a limping Sunstreaker strung over his shoulders.

"Ratchet is going to kill you two," I sighed, helping set Sunstreaker down on the ground. The older twin grinned.

"Naw, he's too happy to see me."

I laughed, lightly smacking bout their helms. They both scowled, but while Sideswipe laughed, Sunstreaker stayed silent.

"Mom's not coming. I got blown off the ship trying to fight off Shockwave and his droids. I've been drifting for a little over a vorn now. I heard your message somewhere out by the planet called 'Jupiter'."

I nodded, but I couldn't help but feel frustrated that he wasn't any more help than Flareup and Chromia had been.

"If it makes you feel better, she found about six or seven orphans while searching for Energon. Found a few other femmes too. And lucky Wheeljack has them all to himself."

"I doubt he could touch them without blowing up," I grumbled. The twins laughed, but I didn't. Okay, you got me, I was still very territorial about Elita, and so were the other mechs with sparkmates.

"I lost Moonracer and Stargazer," Sunstreaker suddenly whispered, clutching at his chest. "I can't accept that she's dead, but our bond isn't there anymore."

I reached over and pulled them both close, as I had done when they were small, and let them pile themselves on top of each other. Sunstreaker sobbed, it what must have been countless vorns, clutching at his chest as he did so.

"Racer," he moaned over and over, several of his welds coming apart and leaking energon as he cried.

It made my spark hurt that one so young had been mated, experienced parenthood and the 'death' of his child. He was nearly 60,000 vorns old, still a child, barely out of his young adult years. Compared to that, I was over 40,000 vorns his senior; still considered rather young by most.

"Sunny? Sides?"

Sideswipe and I turned to see Chromia, a kind smile on her normally stern face. She too had helped raised these hapless twins, on top of raising Bumblebee no less, and was often their mother when Elita could not be. And true to that status, she pulled their favorite blue energon goodies. The twins pounced on them with the enthusiasm of toddlers, and we watched in amusement as Sideswipe gently fought with his brother over the bigger piece. Sunstreaker may have been injured, but that didn't mean their eternal rivalry was gone, just toned down.

"Those two are going to be in so much trouble with Ratchet…but I couldn't bear seeing them so despressed."

"Don't want to be around for that," I agreed as she sat down beside me.

"You know, they sort of remind me of you and Sentinel."

I looked at her with surprise. "Really?"

"Uh huh. You two would tease each other mercilessly, but I never did see such a pair of siblings. You two were so close you made twins seem distant."

"Until those two came along, you mean."

"True, in a way. Those two are rare, even among twins. I'm pretty sure they know what the other is going to do before they know what they themselves are doing. But you and Sentinel weren't even full brothers, and he loved you anyway. He was so proud of you, like you were his very own, when you were sparked."

I raised an optic ridge. I had never heard this before.

"Yep, just as proud as could be. Fiercer than any femme, he took you everywhere and when Alpha and Venus died, he refused to let you be taken away."

I chuckled. I had grown to be nearly six feet taller than Sentinel and had been taller than everyone for so long that it was hard to imagine myself being toted around.

"And you were so stubborn too! You never wanted to take a bath for me. But your brother would come through that door and your optics would light up and you would be so excited to see him that Ironhide and I didn't have the spark to scold you."

"Chromia, you're embarrassing me."

"Squirt, I'm old, it's my job."

"Chromia, you're much younger than Ratchet and he's not as old as he looks. You mated with the old fart."

She giggled, but hit my arm with her famous Chromium Punch. I winced and rubbed the dent.

"He's not so old. He's younger than Megatron at least."

We both laughed that time and I felt the weight of Elita missing lift slightly off my chest.

"Hey! Look at that!"

We all turned, following Sam's pointing finger to see a streak of light arching through the night sky.

"Signal indicates it is Autbot!" cried Ratchet. I opened my comm., hoping the soldier coming in would hail me once he landed. After there was a tremendous splash in the offshore waters, a crackling voice speaking rapid Cybertronian came over the radio.

"**Prowl reporting…ty Optimus Prim sir!...followed by Elit…jack shortly…I'm ready to serve!"**

"**It is good to hear from you again, old friend," **I said, watching as his still imposing figure rose out of the water. He nodded towards me, but I winced when I heard his rivets popping as he made his way across the sand. We must be getting old.

"Optimus, who is that?" inquired Sam from my shoulder.

"That is Prowl, my second-in-command back on Cybertron."

"He looks like a tight-ass."

The twins and Bumblebee crowed with laughter beside us and I couldn't help but chuckle.

"You have no idea!" said Sideswipe. "He's worse than Ratchet!"

"Hey, you're still in trouble for sneaking your brother out of the Med Bay last month!"

"**Ah, breaking Rule 45, Section 6 of Chapter 12 in the list of Infractions. Everything's normal I presume? Jazz still assisting the twins in their rule-breaking?"**

I jolted, and the rest of us fell silent. Sam had recognized Jazz's humanly unpronounceable name and I knew he was thinking the same as I. I turned to Prowl, who had fallen silent upon our sudden change of mood.

"**Jazz is dead. Megatron killed him three Earth years ago."**

"**Ah," **said Prowl, a rasp in his voice. I knew it had hit him incredibly hard. He and Jazz had trained in Decagon together, and in all senses were brothers-in-arms. They were family.

"**Wh-where is his frame?" **he asked.

"**The Laurentian Abyss. Almost two thousand miles from here."**

Prowl just stayed silent, and then he turned his blue optics on Sam.

"I trust you are the human called Samuel James Witwicky?"

"I hear great things about you…I'm sure you'll be sitting in my brig before long."

And then I knew Prowl would be okay, perhaps not as stable as before, but okay.

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"Optimus Prime, sir, from what the human military is indicating, is it correct that I will be assuming the alt mode of a law enforcement vehicle?"

"Yes Prowl, you will be a State Police car."

"Like Barricade?"

I looked away. "No. He is part of the municipal police. You will be highly distinguishable from him."

"But similar. Such is fate I suppose; to be always attached to one's sibling isn't it?"

"Yes," I said, understanding full well what he was referring to.

He went over to where the car, along with its officer, was waiting for him to copy. In a bright flash, there he was, folding down to asses his new form. Only, I think, caught that the police insignia had been replaced with our own Autobot image. And on the back, it read in script _'Til all are one'._

"I like it," he said, speeding off to race around the hanger in a display of carefree attitude I hadn't see in a _long _time. The police officer, a former member of N.E.S.T, got out of his car and approached me.

"I won't have to pull him over too much, will I? I don't feel like arguing with giant robots anymore."

"No," I said, grinning as the twins and Chromia came flying out the hangar to race with Prowl. "At least, I wouldn't bet on it."

"Good. Those guys need someone to keep them in line."

"What am I supposed to be?" I asked, clearly confused.

"No offense, sir, but don't think we haven't seen you speeding on the roads. You hit 180 when you went to see Witwicky last year."

I looked up. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about."

"Yeah, uh huh. See what I mean?"

And he got back into his car, grumbling as he started up the engine. I watched him go, smiling just the slightest as he went.

What harm went to a little fun? In the words of my wise brother: "Screw destiny, everyone needs to have fun sometimes."

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Please review!


	16. Rise up

_Chapter 16_

"_Not all who wander are lost."~ J.R.R. Tolkien_

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_Just a little filler chapter for your enjoyment while I catch up on work. :)_

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As I watched Sideswipe fuss over his twin, I couldn't help but remember when Ironhide found me back on Cybertron, before the War and even before Sentinel was Prime.

_I remember being in so much pain that it hurt just to think. My father had really beaten me this time; with the intention to kill I was sure. I'm still not sure why I had lived, but here I lay, broken and leaking energon on the catwalk outside my room's window._

"_Ahre you alrigh'?"_

_I could barely move, but this voice made me turn my head ever so slightly and I opened my optics to see the blurry image of a mech across the alleyway. He was a rusty red blur, but I could see the concern on his faceplate as he leaned out his window._

"_H-help me," I croaked for the first time in my life. I had never asked for help. Never._

"_Alrigh', don't worry, ah'll be over thar in a klick."_

_Such a strange accent. But it was so welcome from the stiff grammar of Iacon that I didn't mind. I heard his heavy footsteps make their way up the fire escape and suddenly I felt fear. Why did I trust a mech I didn't know? What was wrong with me?_

"_Easy there miss. Ah won't hurt ya. Mah name's Ironhide, what's yours?"_

"_Chromia," I whispered, wincing when he picked me up._

"_That's a right pretty name, Miss Chromia."_

"_Not…so bad yourself…Hide."_

_He smiled for me, but I began to slip back out of consciousness again and his smile slide into a horrible grimace in my hazy vision._

"_Sorry! I'm sorry!" I wailed, his face morphing into my father's. "Please, don't hit me, please!"_

_But the blows did not come. Instead, I felt myself being laid down on a soft berth, electricity gently humming through it._

"_Now lay still, y'hear me? Ah gonna go call mah friend to see if he can fix you up."_

_Oh, it was Ironhide. I nodded, letting myself sink into the soft mat I was laying on. Such a relief from the cold, wet catwalk it was. I laid there for what seemed like joors, but I was comfortable for once and I didn't mind. _

"_I'll be scrapped Ironhide, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"_

"_She was hurtin' Ratch! I couldn't just leave 'er thar!"_

"_I can see that. Do you know who-"_

"_Her father, the slaggard."_

_And I saw the new mech's face, a handsome young bot only a few vorns older than me. He turned and I saw the white and red that labeled him as a medic and I sighed in relief. He looked down at me and smiled in the calm, reassuring way that doctors who knew what they were doing always did._

"_Hello there, I'm Ratchet. It's good to see that you're awake Miss. Now, I'll need you to lie still while I run diagnostics, okay?"_

"_M'kay," I muttered, just glad that he didn't make me move from my comfortable spot. A klick later, I felt the light tickle of a scan passing over me and heard the 'hmms' and 'ahahs' from Ratchet._

"_Well, she's a tough one that's for sure. A broken support rod in her chest, three severed cables in her right arm, several contusions to her entire frame, a cracked lens on her right optic, energon loss and a dent in her processor. Not to mention the scars from previous abuse. She should be offline right now, with the wound to her cranial unit. Earlier injuries would have killed most femmes."_

"_Wahl, that's good, ain't it?"_

"_Of course. I can fix her up in no time, right here in fact. Now beat it, you lugnut, you're in my space!"_

_I saw Ironhide retreat out of the corner of my optic and turned my blurry vision back to Ratchet._

"_Will it hurt?"_

"_It shouldn't, but you need to understand that you were quite heavily injured. Sometimes it takes pain to heal."_

_I nodded. "I understand. This isn't the first time I've been hurt."_

_And I saw the slightest hint of pity in his sharp blue optics and I knew that I was dealing with an extremely kind-hearted mech. Most bots would scoff and tell me that I should have left when I had the chance. No one seemed to understand that a single femme with no higher education didn't have many options beyond prostitute or servant._

"_Well, let's make this the last time alright? I burned a lot of energon coming here from Decagon."_

_Decagon? That was Prime headquarters, the center for all military and political work on the entire planet. I wasn't just dealing with the neighborhood quack, this mech was an officer!_

"_Calm down, Chromia, was it? I only have to weld your support rod and your cuts. I can have Ironhide tend to you until you're better since your optic lens should heal itself with in the week and your dents will pop out on their own."_

_And I made myself relax, letting him open my chest plates to peer at my inner workings. Gentle, but firm hands rummaged around until he found the broken support rod. I watched, fascinated, as his fingers split into smaller, more delicate instruments so he wouldn't disturb the vital tubing and wires around my support frame. I felt sudden sharp, pain from within my chest, but it was gone before I could cry out and a message flashed across my vision informing me that my support structure was fully functional again._

"_Alrighty, that should do it!" said Ratchet, about half a joor later. I sat up, slowly so as not to scramble my processor, and gave him a much deserved hug. He seemed a little surprised, but returned it._

"_Thank you!"_

"_Heh, you're welcome Miss."_

_A few klicks later, Ironhide came rushing back in and I smiled my best at him. He smiled back and I lay back down, letting my optics shutter as they went out the door. And for once in my life, I felt cared for._

_I felt safe._

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I curiously studied the human female named Sarah Lennox as she went about her business like she didn't have giant alien robots lounging in her back yard. Her daughter, Annabelle, sat at Optimus and Ironhide's feet, begging them to tell her stories. Behind them Prowl basked in the sun, shamelessly stretched out on his abdomen to let the solar panels on his doorwings soak up the extra energy, and the twins were curiously studying a thing called a 'remote controlled plane' with Bumblebee and Sam.

"Chromia, are you sure you're alright?" asked Sarah, coming over to check on me. She knew I was the only femme since Arcee had stayed behind to help Ratchet guard the base and probably felt sympathy for me.

"Yes Sarah. Your home is beautiful; I hope the younglings haven't messed up the yard too bad yet."

"Not at all. I've wanted Will to landscape back here anyway."

She turned away when her husband and Epps approached, the latter trailing his own wife, Monique.

"Hey there scary lady," he said to me, a teasing grin on his face. I laughed when his wife smacked his ear.

"Boy, be nice to her! She's only got one other girl on base with her and she's alone today. Don't make me regret leaving the kids at home and bringing you!"

"It's alright Mrs. Epps," I said, still grinning. "He's just upset that I can shoot better than anyone on base."

"Call me Monique, please. Mrs. Epps makes me sound old. And is that so Chromia? Rob never told me that. Pleased to hear that us females are rather well represented around all those men. Good job."

I liked her. She and I got along especially well after the Egypt battle. It was only because of her and Sarah that we were able to revive Optimus after the Forest Battle.

"Thank you."

"You go girl. And if you ever want to take a vacation from the men folk, don't hesitate to come to my house."

"Thank you again, but I'd rather be with Ironhide."

And she smiled knowingly at me. This was why I got along so well with her and Sarah. I may fight now, but there was a time in which I wasn't so closely attached to my weapons, and I was like them; waiting at home for my soldier to return.

_It was already late at night when I arrived at Decagon to greet the soldiers returning from the uprising in Kaon. Not many femmes, nor mechs, were there. They were at home, I suppose, waiting for their loved one to come to them. I couldn't expect that of Ironhide. He was my best friend…maybe more, but I had promised him I'd be the first thing he saw when he got off that transport and I wasn't one to break my promises._

"_Transport 717, 516 and 345 arriving, estimated time of landing, six breems."_

_And the few of us who had gathered waited impatiently for the three vehicles to slowly come down from high in the atmosphere, and land in front of us. I found it particularly hard as the first and second landed and Ironhide wasn't on either. As the third touched down, I instantly knew he was on board and I ran to stand in front of the loading ramp. The door opened, and dozens of tired, battle-worn mechs filed out. My spark stopped when Ironhide didn't immediately appear, but after a few terrifying kilcks, there he was._

"_Hide!" I cried out, waving when he looked around for me. A grin lit up his face and he barreled down the ramp and swung me up in a hug. I wrapped my arms around his neck and let him press a kiss to my forehead._

"_Ah missed you, Mia. Those Kaon punks just don't have your sense of humor."_

"_I missed you too, rusty bolts and all."_

_And before I could realize what I was doing, all the weeks of worry and intolerable waiting caught up to me and I pulled him down into a full-blown kiss. I want to tell you that it was one of those magical, fireworks in the background kisses, but all I felt was a deep sense of relief that he hadn't immediately pulled away and that he was alive for me to kiss and hold._

"_Wahl, I reckon I should leave a lot more if yer goin' to kiss me ev'ry time ah come back."_

"_You wouldn't dare!"_

_But from that orn on, he kissed me not only when he came back from missions, but during the lazy days that he was off-duty. Yeah, we interfaced. Okay, we interfaced a lot, but that wasn't as important as lounging on the couch, just enjoying each other's presence while we watched old holo-vids from the Civil War, back before our section of Iacon had even existed._

"_Mia?"_

"_Yes Hide?"_

"_Ah have a present fer ya."_

_I turned and raised my optic ridge at him. He had always asked what I wanted when he was deployed to artistic cities like Crystal City and Axiom, but I always told him I just wanted him in one piece. He pulled a long, thin box out of his subspace and handed it too me, glee in his eyes._

"_Wahl, go on, open it."_

_I tapped the button on the side and the box slowly unfolded to reveal an elegant plasma rifle, the newest in weapons technology._

"_Hide, this must have cost a fortune!" I exclaimed, running my hand over the engraving of my name on the butt of the rifle._

"_Yeah, but nothin's too expensive fer mah Mia. Ah thought it'd be nice ta buy mah sparkmate a present."_

"_Hide you didn't-sparkmate?"_

_And he grinned at me, that damn grin that always made my spark flutter in excitement. He leaned over, the beautiful rifle all but forgotten and he bent so his intake was soft on my audio._

"_If you'll have me, tat is."_

"_Of course I'll have you, you old grease-bucket," I murmured. I yelped a moment later when he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder._

"_Hide, what are you doing?" I shrieked, pounding on his back. He laughed._

"_Takin' a sparkmate, tat's what!" he had answered._

Of course Ironhide would propose with a weapon. That's what he had always done when we fought, gone out and brought me home the nicest gun or blade he could find. And I had always remembered his proposal and forgiven him. And vice versa, every year for his spark day, I had been slowly up grading his arm cannon until one became two, live rounds became plasma and he was eventually appointed Weapons Specialist to Alpha Prime himself.

Now, I will never forget the first time I met this family, practically as royal as you got on our planet and how I had been captivated by their two sons, Sentinel and Optimus.

"_I would like ta introduce mah sparkmate, Chromia."_

_And Ironhide had proudly taken my hand and presented me before the towering mech and his magnificently beautiful femme mate. I had bowed courteously, nodding towards the Prime._

"_A pleasure to meet the femme who can keep Ironhide in line," said Alpha Prime, giving me a small smile._

"_An honor sir," I said. We laughed, except for his sparkmate, Venus, and he waved his hand forward to reveal a mech around our age holding a sparkling in his arms._

"_My sons, Sentinel and Optimus."_

_I nodded to them and the elder gave me a broad smile much like his father's._

"_A pleasure," he said, coming over to show me his cooing sparkling brother. "Optimus likes you too."_

_I studied the little mech curiously. He was so calm! He emanated a soothing presence that a mech thousands of vorns older than him would have. Optimus was definitely an old soul. But how handsome he was, even at this age! He would be a femme-magnet for sure._

"_Wahl Alpha Prime, sir, they both don't look a damn thing like ya and I guess we should be glad about tat!"_

_The two of them laughed, but there was no truth to that statement. Sentinel looked almost exactly like his father, with midnight blue optics and sharp, angular facial plates. And I saw Alpha's face tighten just the slightest and his smile was obviously a show. Narrowed blue optics glanced over at a rigid Venus._

_Ah, so that's how it was. Optimus looked nothing like Sentinel or Alpha. He was illegitimate. I would never tell anyone, not even Hide, about this._

_Only three cycles later, Alpha and Venus were murdered. _

_I remember that orn exactly. Ironhide and I had gone to vacation for a few orns in Crystal City. While we were walking, arm in arm, his comm. link beeped and I remember him apologizing while he answered it._

"_Ah'm sorry Mia. This is Ironhide, proceed."_

"_Sir…Alpha Prime and Lady Venus have been assassinated, along with the rest of the council and the Lord High Protector. It's all out chaos here at headquarters. We've already called in Megatron, Alpha Trion and Starscream, but there's not much they can do without you here to authorize weapons use."_

"_Ah'm on my way," he growled, transforming. "C'mon Mia, let's go."_

_And I had folded into my alt mode, my spark cold as we raced back towards the capital. It wouldn't take us more than forty-five breems to get there, but at the rate emergency vehicles and seekers were flying overhead, who knows how long it would take with traffic. The whole way there Ironhide kept his comm. opened and he was rattling off orders like I had never seen._

"_I want security tripled around teh city! No one gets in or out unless they've got Level 3 clearance, understand?" _

"_Yes sir!" was the responding answer. He then opened a second comm. and stopped, motioning for me to come forward._

"_Shoot anyone that get's close," he ordered, turning away to talk. I took up position, taking out that very first rifle from my leg holster._

"_This is Ironhide, Weapons Master and Second in Command in the event of the Prime's death. What is the status of the young princes?"_

_And I knew he was deadly serious. His accent had completely faded away to ensure clarity of his message._

"_This is Megatron, Lord High Protector and Current Commander. The two of them are safe, minimal wounds obtained by Sentinel Prime. CMO Ratchet is taking care of him as we speak."_

"_Good. ETA, five breems. In my company is Chromia, requesting permission to bring her inside HQ."_

"_Permission granted."_

"_Over and out."_

_And we transformed again, weaving through soldiers posted at regular intervals in the streets until we came to Decagon. I had never seen it so fortified. Two rings of security surrounded the gates, Seeker Officers patrolled the skies overhead and the Magnus himself stood at the gate. He waved us through only after he had scanned us._

_Inside I saw grim faces and silent medics as offlined frame after frame was removed from the towering office of Decagon. Ironhide took my hand, leading me through the glass doors and onto a scene out of a nightmare. Drying pools of energon were splattered everywhere, shattered limbs lay scattered across the floor and there, in the middle of the grimy floor, lay a crater, still smoking with the tell-tale red streaks of magnesium._

"_How could they do this? It could not have gone undetected?" I said, looking up at my mate. He turned away._

"_It didn't. There was a traitor."_

_A feeling of dread swept through my chassis. Traitors meant there was an enemy, and enemies meant war. Ironhide stayed silent, leading me up the levels of Decagon until we came to the command center, where bots of all kinds ran about with the hurried, stressed look that soldiers in an emergency rarely had. Standing in the middle of it all were three imposing mechs, a seeker, a slim red and blue scientist and the looming, dark figure of the successor of the Lord High Protector._

"_Megatron, sir," said Ironhide, saluting him. I bowed, showing respect as was every civilian's duty. He couldn't be much younger than Ironhide, for a fact I knew he was a few hundred vorns younger than Sentinel, but he looked twice his age and even more fearsome as his silver-white optics fell on me._

"_Ironhide, you requested that your sparkmate be brought in. I want to know why."_

"_Well sir, I'm your security, she's mine."_

"_Impressive. We'll have to get her into teaching the femme cadets."_

_Neither of us answered and Megatron didn't show that he noticed. He called over the seeker and the scientist._

"_Starscream, go with Ironhide to the weapons vault. Alpha Trion, take Chromia with you to Sentinel and Optimus. Perhaps they will respond better to someone they know."_

_And I was whisked away before I could tell Ironhide where I was going. A flash of panic gripped me as I was immediately surrounded by mechs I didn't know. Memories of my father started to surface…but then a soothing presence from my spark emanated out and I knew Ironhide wasn't far away. I needed to get a grip, these mechs needed me and I wasn't about to be selfish about it._

"_Right this way," said Alpha Trion, motioning me through a set of doors that I hadn't realized led to the Med Bay. I walked through and came upon the sight of a harried Ratchet holding a squalling Optimus and an incapacitated Sentinel struggling on a berth._

"_Chromia thank Primus! Here, take him so I can tend to his bolt-brained brother!"_

_And Optimus was dumped in my arms, still wailing away as he clutched at me. I didn't know anything about sparklings, so I did what I had seen a mother do in Crystal City. I put him against my shoulder and patted his back. And slowly, the wails became little hiccups as he calmed down. I pulled him away, nestling him in the crook of my arm._

"_There, now no more fussing. I can't take it."_

_But despite calming down, he continued to whimper softly and I saw his little digits clutching at his chest. Pity instantly filled my spark and I went to sit closer to Sentinel so that bond would at least be stronger. The older mech smiled and reached out to touch his brother's helmet before being scolded by Ratchet to lie still._

"_Poor thing, you're too young to loose your parents."_

"_Yes, he is," said Ratchet, still checking Sentinel's vitals. "His spark is very weak right now. He should be taken in by a surrogate femme, so he does not lose the vital sparkling bond."_

"_But Ratchet-"I protested, but before I could chastise him about splitting the brothers up, Sentinel interrupted._

"_NO!" _

_We turned to look at Sentinel and his hydraulics creaked as he struggled to sit up._

"_You will not take him from me! I lost my parents; I won't allow him to be taken too."_

"_Sentinel-"_

"_That's an order!" he roared, banging a titanic fist down. His midnight blue optics had begun to turn a deadly shade of purple._

"_No offense, but you're not Prime yet. Megatron is still in charge and as CMO I only take orders from him at the moment."_

"_I don't care. Optimus is my brother, I'm more than capable of caring for him and as a matter of fact, as his only living relative, I have complete authority over his caretaking."_

_And Ratchet fell silent and looked at me. I nodded and he sighed, nodding his head as well._

"_Very well Sentinel. You may keep him…but—if Megatron usurps authority before you are initiated as Prime, I will have no choice but to take your brother from you."_

"_I'd like to see you brats try." Was the growled answer._

"_Brat? Boy, I'm three-hundred vorns your senior!"_

"_Liar, you were a grade below me at the academy," muttered Sentinel, curling his olfactory sensor in mock annoyance._

"_Because you were put two grades ahead you snippy malfunction!" _

"_Aftshaft!"_

"_Don't make me reformat you into an exhaust pipe."_

_And I simply bounced Optimus, who was in a far better mood since his brother and Ratchet had been arguing good-naturedly._

'_We're doomed,' I thought, watching the two older mechs bicker. But Optimus suddenly cooed and I lifted him up so I could get a look at his face._

"_What handsome?" I teased, nuzzling his forehead. He giggled, his bright blue optics scrunching up as he did. But a klick later, his face was solemn and I once again felt that soothing presence from when I had first met him._

"_You are going to be one heck of a Prime kid," I said, settling him on my lap so he could chirp and twitter at his brother._

_And to think I was right._

Hehe, I love Chromia (as I've said before) and couldn't resist writing about an Optimus before he could even stand.


	17. Faith

Chapter 17

"_You may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves."_

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_No, I have not stayed entirely true to the movie, but I have done so because the events don't agree with my story. Just a little creative tinkering, so don't be too upset._

_~WM_

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_**CAUTION: If you have NOT seen Transformers 3, it is not recommended you go on. There are spoilers and you have been warned.**_

I felt my spark split in two.

A yawning pit of pain and betrayal shot through my chest as I watched the frame that had been silenced so many vorns ago approach me. Around me my men fell to their knees as he approached, midnight blue armor glinting as if it were new.

"Optimus, long time no see."

And then a horrible realization as I saw the purple energon leaking out of the corner of his optics and his mouth. He grinned, a horrible abomination of the smile it used to be.

"Move back!" I screamed, knowing what was coming. Out came his gun and the acrid smell of his ammo filled the air. I stood still, blocking his aim at everyone, silently crying on the inside.

"Sentinel please…"

And I heard the hiss of his acid gun discharge and saw everything from Cybertron to the first time I ever transformed flash through my processor.

"NO!"

And there was Ironhide, diving in front of me, protecting me as he always had. I saw Chromia's horrified face and anger replaced the guilt as he fell, gasping and struggling to stay upright. I saw rust race over his frame and immediately Ratchet was there, jabbing a needle into Ironhide's energon lines. I raised my gun and shot without thinking, but Sentinel was the one who had taught me to be a soldier and he dodged it easily.

"I am sorry," he gurgled out, more of the rotten energon coursing from his mouth as he spoke. "But you would never understand…"

And he was gone, transforming into a fire truck and rushing away with the pillars on his back. I fell numb, ignoring what I had seen, denying that it was true and immediately fell into the roll of Prime.

"Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, help get Ironhide inside! Mirage, contact the Wreckers immediately! Arcee, go with Bumblebee and protect Sam and Carly. Prowl, you're with me! Roll out!"

Everyone scurried to move, the N.E.S.T soldiers shouting orders as they went and tires screeching as I sped off after my brother. This time, it was too much.

This time, I would kill Megatron.

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We were too late. As we drove, Sentinel activated the space bridge and flying out of it were Decepticons I hadn't seen in millions of vorns. And to my horror, I saw a ship twice the size of our own coming out of it. It opened its doors to reveal more Decepticons, Seekers and smaller gunships enough to conquer this planet in a day.

"This is Optimus. We have failed in our efforts to-"

And I felt myself being tossed through the air like a toy, and then slamming into the hard cement of a wall.

"O-Optimus," snarled Sentinel, holding his blade to my throat. "We were gods once…I am so disappointed in you."

And I froze.

_Disappointed._

_Failure._

_Not worthy!_

But Prowl came skidding around the corner, knocking him off of me.

"Get up Optimus Prime! That is not your brother! He's dead. Dead! That is Megatron talking!"

Megatron. Murderer. Betrayer. Disciple of Unicron.

Enemy.

I rose to my feet, rage pumping through my circuits. He had defiled my brother's memory, spit on his grave and stepped on his spark with tyranny.

"I am sorry," whispered Sentinel, ripping Prowl off his back and tossing him into the pond behind him. He ran, leaping onto a gunship before I could move. I watched as Megatron walked up to me, stepping on my leg and popping my support struts.

"Sentinel, my most triumphant conquest. Looks like you've lost, brat."

And he raised his cannon, pointing it directly between my optics.

"Go ahead," I snarled. "Sam will find a way to kill you even if I'm dead."

But something flew through the air and landed in his wrist. It was a smaller blade, thrumming with energon. We both looked to see Sentinel.

"Do it and I will jump. You can't activate that pillar—"he gurgled, clutching as his throat, his words cut off before he could finish.

"You are mine!" snarled Megatron. "Do not tempt me!"

But he took his weight off my leg and transformed into his jet mode, leading his army towards the west. I sat up, turning to look at Prowl and hung my head as he came over and helped me stand.

"It's not your fault," he said.

"Yes. Yes it is."

"You can't do this!" screamed Sam, running up to Mearing, and grabbing her by the shoulder. "They're the only chance we have!"

"We have no other choice Witwicky."

And my optics locked onto Sam's wrist, where I immediately located the energy signature being transmitted from it. Did they think us fools? But I saw the desperation in Sam's eyes and noticing that Carly was gone from his side, I knew it was not his doing.

"Autbots, by order of the U.S. government, you are hereby exiled from this country, and this planet. Follow your escorts, your ship is waiting."

And I rolled in front of all my troops, towing an injured Ironhide in my trailer. If we were going to be dishonorably discharged from Earth's army, then I was going to lead the way.

"Autobots, roll out!" I ordered, following the black SUVs towards the Atlantic Ocean. Chromia fell in close behind, eager to not be separated from her mate for too long, and everyone followed swiftly after her.

We drove in silence and I knew Bumblebee was silently suffering in the back of the line. He was so young…

"Optimus, you can't-" begged Sam once we had arrived at the shuttle launch site where the wreckers waited for us.

"Let's get a damn move on, we don't have all day!" roared Leadfoot from atop the launch pad. I transformed, removing the top of my trailer so they could roll Ironhide towards the ship, and turned to face Sam.

"Optimus, I need…I need to know if you have any plans to strike back. You always do…no other human will ever know."

Ah, so that is what they were after. Well, two could play that game.

"There is no plan Sam. Freedom is your right, and we are no longer welcome. The fight is now your own. Remember, you may lose your faith in us, but never in yourselves."

And I turned away again. Inside my spark twisted with an aching loneliness. Were we always to be like this? Carted around from planet to planet, never truly welcome?

"Make it short," I told Bumblebee, patting him once on the shoulder.

"We will always. Be friends. Sam." Was all he managed to click out before he fell silent and I knew sobs had been caught in his throat. "My. Best friend."

"Bee…"

And the little scout steeled himself, walking away as I saw Sam put his head against the railing and sob. I opened up a silent comm. link to Prowl as soon as we were out of human range.

'Is it ready?'

'Yes sir.'

'Let's roll.'

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BOOM.

And we were free falling back to Earth, huddled around Ironhide as the capsule fell away from our now unusable ship. It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time to be speeding towards the Earth at such speeds.

THUD.

And we sank, the curious sounds of the ocean surrounding us as we did so. As soon as we hit the ocean floor with a jolt, we went into action. The twins shot out of the exit, Bumblebee close behind to scout. Ratchet transferred his medical tools to Chromia and followed, the Wreckers not far behind. Arcee stood and clasped forearms with Chromia.

"Sister in arms."

"Blood of fire."

"And sparks of blue."

Then she hugged her closest friend and stood by to await orders with Prowl. I turned to Chromia.

"Don't worry about him. He's tough and Ratchet's good."

"I know. Now go rip their fraggin heads off."

"Will do."

The last of us transformed and headed out, speeding through the water as if it was no thicker than air. We burst out of the water; our inner temperatures making the water sizzle off in less than a nano-second.

"Roll out!" I thundered, tires screeching as I led the way towards the interstate.

I only prayed we weren't too late.

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As we slowly made our way towards the city of Chicago, the signs of devastation became all too clear. Yes, there were humans fleeing the city, but the closer we got, the more the cars were overturned, burnt out shells and all that was left of the humans were bones.

"Activate your cloaking devices," I ordered, spying the ships speeding through the air. Their horrible shrieking brought back the awful memories of our last days on Cybertron.

"Optimus, this is Sideswipe. We've located Sam. Immediate backup requested; enemy ship in range."

"Affirmative. ETA, four minutes."

I took off, easily breaking 180 mph as I swerved through the devastation of the city. And there I saw him, dodging Decepticon fire with Epps and several other former N.E.S.T operatives. I transformed faster than when I had found out the humans were lying, and shot down the ship in one blast.

"Optimus! Bee!"

I looked down and nodded at Sam. "Perhaps your people finally understand…they cannot be negotiated with. They will never leave your planet alone."

"But-I was spying one you! I saw your ship blow up!"

"Samuel, have just a little faith. I'm not a Prime for nothing."

"We designed the damn thing!" shouted Roadbuster, one of the Wreckers. "That rusty old heap wouldn't have made it out of the atmosphere anyway."

In the distance, I saw building falling like dominos and I felt the pain in my chest grow to almost unbearable levels. I turned to see Prowl with shuttered optics and I knew he was thinking of his home and what had happened to Praxus.

"They're building a fortress," I explained to the soldiers. "It will be nearly impossible to get in or out. They want to be able to move without being seen."

"Well, you shot down one of their ships, let's use that," said Sam and I was surprised to see his eyes glowing blue, like my own. Then I realized that he did indeed have the Allspark's information still within him.

"You heard him!" yelled Roadbuster, "Let's get it fixed!"

And in a fit of passion, I uttered something completely unbefitting a Prime.

"We'll kill them all."

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Part one of two, yay! :D


	18. Devastation

Chapter 18

"_Freedom without survival is a tragedy. Survival without freedom is a curse."_

_~rather ironically, Sentinel Prime_

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_**Again, do not read if you have not yet seen DOTM.**_

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_Optimus? How tall you have grown. Still shorter than me of course, but a fair bit taller than the youngling I left behind._

_But how old you look now…it was only a hundred vorns that I was away wasn't it?_

_But it warms my spark to see you again young one. My little brother, more precious than anything._

_**Kill them all.**_

_Megatron. Long time no see, traitor._

_**You are the traitor now. You shot Ironhide, probably killed him. Broke Optimus' leg. Unleashed Decepticons upon this worthless planet.**_

_No, I would never-!_

_**You are dead. I killed you millions of years ago. Thousands of vorns you've laid in your burial ship, guarding a **__very __**interesting secret.**_

_You know very well that power is too much for you to handle. And if I am dead, how are you speaking to me? That must mean you're dead as well._

_**You could only be so lucky…no, I found a little thing called dark energon lying around. You belong to me now, Sentinel.**_

_You're insane._

_**Probably, but you were more so to believe you could trust me.**_

_Don't test me. I'm still a Prime. You were deemed unworthy of the title and stripped of your power. You are still less powerful than Optimus. Less powerful than me._

_**Silence! You are a fool if you believe he can stop me now that he's dead!**_

_You know he is not. I can still feel him in my spark, no matter how twisted it is. You can too, betrayer._

_He was silent after that, and I knew he was brooding as he always did when defeated. I settled back down, realizing that I was online, but I did not control my frame. Is this how a drone felt? But more importantly, why did I not remember being dead?_

_Optimus…_

_And there it was the small tingling in my chest where his bond was. He was still alive, still mobile. Maybe he could save this planet. But what had become of my beloved Cybertron? In response, images of a desolated, crater pocketed planet flashed through my processor. That could be repaired, in time with the Matrix and the Allspark…_

_But the silence was another thing. _

_**The Allspark was destroyed, by the very human our brother protects. And Optimus refuses to help me restore our home.**_

_Because you wish to enslave this planet in order to do that. Have you forgotten our ancestors were once slaves to the Quintessons? Cybertron is dead out of our own fault, it is not our right to take this planet's freedom._

_**You are a fool! Our race is dying and all you can do is preach your pacifistic bullslag! You're just like him.**_

_Oh, you mean your father? Or Optimus? Because the way I see it, you're the black hole of the family, Megatron. You don't belong here._

_**You're the one who doesn't belong. If I had it my way, you would have died along with your parents and I would have had the perfect second in command to help me. If you had died, there would have been peace.**_

_And that is where you are wrong, Megatron._

So, this I what Cybertron looks like?

It had been so long since I had seen its scarred surface, and this version of the Pit on Earth had made the memories resurface. The dead lay scattered, their blood drying in huge swathes on the ground around them. Buildings were burnt out shells, still smoldering from the plasma used to destroy them.

And the silence.

That haunting silence that told you that everything from the smallest animal to the biggest machine had died and wouldn't make sound again.

We drove on despite this, dodging a flaming school bus that I knew in my spark had been full of children when it had exploded. If it kept on like this, my spark was going to give out from guilt and sorrow.

And then, the earth began to rumble beneath us and I barely registered what was going on before the driller sprang out of the asphalt.

"Scatter!"

And I tried to speed up, but the damned thing snatched my trailer before I could get away. I needed that! But it was the mech that rose with the driller that made me think twice before rushing in to snatch it away.

"Shockwave!"

And that detestable single optic found its way to me and I snarled. On Cybertron he had relentlessly tormented Elita and the other femmes on the battlefield, constantly trying to capture them for study.

"Optimus…so good to see you."

"Suck slag!" I roared back. Hmm, I really was spending too much time with William and Sam.

"Tsk, tsk, such bad manners. You'll never get your trailer back if you act that way."

I was going to have to think fast.

"This way!" I yelled, herding the humans towards the underground.

"Kill them," ordered Shockwave. And if he could actually feel emotions, and an actual mouth, I'm sure he would have smirked as he said so.

"Let's go, you all know we cannot best his weapons!" I shouted over the sound of weapons fire. Well, if my brother hadn't shot Ironhide, we probably could have.

We ran to regroup and Epps led his team and Sam towards the leaning building. With a wish of good luck, I sent them on their way.

"You cannot fail Samuel. The fate of your world lies-"

"In my hands, I know…but thanks for believing in me."

I gave him the barest hint of a grin. And then I turned to face my men. And Arcee.

"Alright, from what Epps was shouting while we were running, Colonel Lennox and his men are in the city."

"We're right up here actually!"

And we all looked up to see him, seven N.E.S.T soldiers and quite a few others.

"What's the plan Optimus?"

"If you're willing, I believe I can get to my weapons stash if you distract Shockwave."

"Can do. Let's go kick some ass boys!"

"Hooah!"

And I sent out my own soldiers, telling them to take out as many of the gunships as they could. I stopped Bumblebee before he could leave.

"Remember what Jazz taught you?"

He nodded, clicked and buzzed.

"Good. Do it."

"With…pleasure," he croaked out. And he took off, going to perform feats of espionage even I was not privy to.

I turned back to do reconnaissance on my weapons trailer. It was still where the Driller had laid it, but now the creature was gone and six Decepticons stood around it. I hated when the enemy underestimated me. They could not hide in a desolate wasteland. We had fought on one for millions of vorns.

They were dead before they could give each other warning. I didn't even have to use my guns.

I stepped towards the trailer and with a touch, I was boasting a pair of wings. I took to the skies, ready to confront the mech that had caused this tragedy.

"Megatron!"

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No. No, no, NO! Not Bumblebee, anyone but Bumblebee...

I watched, helplessly entagled in wires, as Soundwave marched Bumblebee away from the others and made him kneel. I struggled harder, twisting hard to try and free myself. Beside me I could see the Wreckers climbing the building to free me.

"No!" I screamed. "Leave me! Bumblebee is-"

But, like a gift from Primus, I watched as pieces of the Decepticon ship fell out of the sky, taking their focus off of Bumblebee. And just as I had taught him, he turned and fired. It erupted into total chaos as Shockwave burst out of the ground and soldiers dropped out of the air. I was finally free and I took off towards the building that had just been hit with a missle.

I flew, watching as Sam and the others managed to take down the pillars below. Megatron was nowhere in sight, but I could see Sentinel, trying to fight off the humans. I dove, grabbing him and flinging him down to earth.

"Sentinel, you must fight it!"

But he was blind to me. Burning purple energon dripped form every orifice on his face, and oozed out of the cracks in his abdominal plating. He roared and lashed out with his lance, slicing me across my chest and easily batting me to the ground with his shield.

"We…were gods once!" he gurgled. "But here…we are only…machines!"

And I could only study him with horrified curiosity. That last sentence was not Megatron's words.

"Sentinel please, I can not take any more betrayal."

"I just want…to go home," he whispered, and I saw the deep blue optics from my childhood flash from behind the purple film covering them.

And then the primal rage was back, and I knew I was no match for him. He had taught me everything I know and it showed. He beat me down again and again, until I could only lay there as he put his foot on my chest and grabbed my right arm. The arm that held the axe I had acquired so long ago in the pits of Kaon. And then it was gone.

I screamed.

But it wasn't only physical pain that made me do so, but the sheer enjoyment I saw in Sentinel's optics.

"Pathetic little brat…if not for you, I could have been greater than any other Prime! You held me back! Sentinel hold me! Sentinel read to me! Sentinel-…ha! I hated you!"

It's just the dark energon, I told myself. He doesn't mean that. Sentinel loves you; he's your big brother.

"I died because of you! Father and mother…" he suddenly gurgled, and I saw the flash of blue optics again.

"Such…dark thoughts I had. But know…this one truth…Optimus; I am _so _proud of you. You are…better than my father, than your father and even me. You are…a true Prime."

And he felt to his knees, a burning hole in his chest. No, no, no, not again! Not like this, please!

"You threatened me? This is my planet; you will have no part in it!"

And Megatron shot again, but missed as I pulled Sentinel out of the way. He snarled at me, the hideous gouge in his head sparking with energon as he wheezed with the effort of transforming.

"I just wanted to be in charge again! After all, what would you be without me…Prime?"

I picked up my axe and weighed it in my left hand. "Let's find out," I growled, swinging it and driving it into his chest.

"Such…arrogance. I fight, because I believe I am right. You fight because…you believe you are right."

"I am sorry, brother," I whispered, wrenching the axe out and watching him fall down. Perhaps I should have stayed, to make sure he was dead.

"Opt…"

Sentinel was alive! I rushed back to him and knelt, leaning close to him.

"Hold on, let me use the Matrix-"

"No Optimus. It would be wrong. I have been dead for many, many vorns. Just let me…die. Besides, seeing what you have become, what a fine mech you have grown into, gives me peace. Just…let me go."

And I sat there, holding his hand until the light faded from him optics for the last time and his spark fell silent.

"Goodbye brother," I murmured, holding his hand up to my helm and touching them gently in a sign of love and respect. "Tell Flareup I said hello."

And I set his hand down, turning to see Sam and Carly running to meet on the bridge. The others dragged themselves along, and I was so glad everyone-oh.

And there Arcee lay, alive, but once again devastatingly damaged and leaking energon as Ratchet carried her. And behind them came the Wreckers, down to two now as they held Leadfoot's broken body between them.

"Optimus?"

I turned, seeing William Lennox waving at me. I knelt down, slightly unsteady without my other arm.

"Yes?"

"Is Ironhide alright? And Chromia?"

"I believe so. Ratchet got to Ironhide before the rust could fully spread. He should be well soon."

"That's awesome. Oh, and you seem to have lost your arm."

I sighed, reaching down to pick up the appendage. "Ratchet, you're going to be busy for a while!"

"Shut up you bit for brains! Now let's go and go find your trailer, she's injured!"

I'm finally home.

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Just sayin', that was the best fraggin' movie of the whole franchise. I don't care what those damn critics or anyone says, I was crying through half the movie.

PLEASE REVIEW!

Oh, and because I used the novel as a major reference, I don't own Transformers! Hasbro or whoever does!


	19. Passing On the Hope

_Chapter 19_

"_The joy of meeting pays the pangs of absence; else who could bear it?" _

_~Nicholas Rowe_

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"I'm afraid I do not understand, Major Lennox, but you want me to 'burn rubber'?"

"It means he wants you to race," said Prowl, narrowing his optics. "Something that is highly illegal on public roads."

"Then I cannot join in William. I do have very important datawork to do today," I answered, even though I wanted nothing more than to dump the work on Prowl and take out my frustrations on a racetrack.

"I understand man. I'll keep you posted on who wins."

"I look forward to it. Oh, and Sunstreaker?"

He looked over at me, his face rather bored. "What?"

"If you win first place I'll let you buy that really expensive paint you wanted."

Immediately a glint came into his optics and he revved excitedly. "Alright, you got it."

I laughed as I walked away, knowing it was going to be a good race between him and Mirage. Prowl followed behind and I knew he had a puzzled look on his stern face.

"I'm rather proud of you sir."

"Thanks Prowl." For making me sound like I never do my work. Now I remember why Sentinel had hated being Prime sometimes. In my 'office' there lay a stack of datapads that could rival Mt. McKinley.

"I'll leave you to it Optimus. Just call if you need anything."

And he shut the hangar door behind me and I sat down in my chair that had been a present from all the soldiers on base last Christmas. I sighed and pulled the first datapad towards me. It was a budget message from the president and I achingly read through the dizzying amount of zeros that he was complaining we cost the country. I simply signed off on the bottom, knowing I would probably regret it later, but they still weren't too keen on arguing with us about anything. Not since we had thrown Director Galloway off the back of a C-17.

The second datapad was a little more interesting since it concerned Major, and soon to be Colonel, Lennox asking if it was okay for Ironhide, Bumblebee and Chromia to come home with him this Christmas since as he put it "Annabelle and Sarah love seeing them". Why not? Sam was away at college this year and wasn't returning home and that meant Bumblebee would be nothing but trouble on base without his best friend. This one I happily signed off on.

The third one made me stop dead.

…_we have detected a craft we believe to be Cybertronian in origin and there are lifeforms aboard similar to you and your people in appearance. One calls itself Elita One …_

As soon as I saw her name I was out the door and running out of the hangar to the communications building. When I burst in, several soldiers looked up and immediately rushed over to assist me.

"Optimus Prime, what can we do to help?"

"I need to get in touch with Defense Secretary Keller, General Morshower and the President."

"Well sir, we need Major Lennox's approval-"

"Then get it!" I snapped. I must have sounded especially fierce, because a few of them yelped before running off to find him. I waited impatiently until Ironhide came roaring up with Lennox in the bed of his alt mode.

"Optimus, what's the emergency?"

"There is an inbound Cybertronian spacecraft. Elita One is aboard."

"Ah, now I understand. Give me three seconds."

And he ran up the stairwell, taking well more than three seconds. I felt myself growing impatient, something I seemed to be feeling more and more as I spent time on Earth. The humans' emotions must be rubbing off on me.

"Alright Optimus, we're hot."

"Optimus, I heard that you can identify this so called 'Elita-One' aboard this spacecraft," said Keller, a cry grin on his face.

"Yes. She is my equal in rank and very important. I would give complete authority for her to land."

I found myself disguising the fact that she was my sparkmate. Only the men on base knew of Ironhide and Chromia, and we were determined to keep that fact of our biology secret as long as we could.

"Very well. Now, please tell me if you can inform me of the others aboard."

"A mech named Wheeljack, one of our greatest engineers. Several female members of our race, and children."

"Children?"

"Yes. We are not normally created as full adults, Secretary; we are often small for a good part of our life."

"In that case," interrupted General Morshower, "I would immediately allow for political asylum. We cannot turn away women and children, no matter the species."

I watched the president as he thought and although I wanted to shout and shake the computer screens, I took into consideration what he was thinking about. Those terrible days, almost a year ago today. That Chicago was still a wasteland, full of haunted memories and the burnt carcasses of buildings.

"I…agree. We are America; it is our duty to allow all their freedom."

I nodded calmly, gratitude in my optics. Inside I felt my spark leap in joy at seeing Elita again. I bid each of them farewell before turning to Major Lennox.

"Thank you William."

"Hey man, I understand. If I couldn't see Sarah for more than a thousand years, I think I'd be a little anxious too."

I grinned, letting him clamber onto my shoulder while I went back outside to deliver the good news. My men waited eagerly, gathering around to listen intently while I told them.

"They approved the landing. They should arrive about this time tomorrow."

Huge grins broke out on everyone's faces and I saw Arcee and Chromia smile especially hard.

"Now we won't be the only femmes on base!" they crowed, turning to glare at the mechs. "You guys are doomed."

"Crap," muttered Ironhide, rolling his optics. "Now ya' done it Prime."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Bumblebee buzzed with laughter, crinkling his optics as he watched his parents bicker playfully. Sideswipe though, stole a sideways look at his twin and I followed, seeing that Sunstreaker was tentatively touching his chest. He turned and looked at his twin and I knew they were communicating telepathically. I could only hope that onboard that ship, which contained such happiness for the rest of us, stood Moonracer and their son.

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As night fell, we began to move outside almost subconsciously as we sensed the ship moving closer to the atmosphere. And there it came, streaking through the sky like the world's brightest shooting star. I felt my spark swell as it came closer, falling until it landed rather ungracefully halfway between the beach and water in a giant plume of sand and smoke.

And I saw Sunstreaker shoving his way to the front, desperately searching the outside of the ship. I too felt the tug of my sparkmate, walking closer, impatiently waiting for the door to open. And then it did, descending to form a ramp.

We fell entirely still, the soldiers seeming to hold their breath as the first figure appeared in the doorway. It was Wheeljack, the sides of his head lighting up as usual.

"**Well, say something you bolt brains!"**

And we laughed, Ratchet the first to respond to his old friend.

"**How about took you long enough, you combustion challenged fragger? Even Mirage got her before you and he's never early for anything!"**

And we snickered again. But Sunstreaker grew impatient.

"**Get out of the way! I want to see my sparkmate!"**

"**Alright, alright, hold your cervos."**

And out came three femmes holding the hands of small, slender younglings. Their faces looked weary and rather cautious of us. The little ones did not look too starved, but the look in their optics, of blind desperation and deep-rooted fear made me angry. But it fades as, at last, the figure I had been waiting to see appeared in the doorway.

"**Elita," **I quietly called, feeling the beloved name roll off my glossa for the first time in hundreds of vorns.

And she turned my way, her baby blue optics finding my face. She didn't smile, but there was such a look of love in that one glance that couldn't help but rush towards the ramp to sweep her up as she reached the bottom. And after I had enjoyed holding her, I held her back to look.

There were those beautiful facial plates, soft and slivery white, with her majestic helm sweeping back into long and elegant antennae. And there was that armor, albeit scuffed and scarred, but still the same dusky rose that I remembered. But still, the most beautiful thing was the faintest sound of her spark pulsing in her chest and I realized that I wasn't having one of my countless wishful dreams, but that this was real and she was here.

"**Optimus…I'm home."**

And I saw everyone watching and I leant down and gently rubbed my helm against hers. With humans, kissing was one of the ultimate intimacies, and this was ours. I heard Ironhide and Bumblebee softly wolf-whistle, but everyone had turned their focus to Sunstreaker. Elita stepped away, slipping her hand into mine and walking over to him.

"**Sunstreaker, I have a present for you, my little one."**

And his heartbroken face turned to one of awe as Moonracer stepped out of the ship, a youngling resting on her hip. And before we could say anymore, he was off, running through the surf to greet his long-lost family. Moonracer was just as eager, sprinting off the ship and tackling Sunstreaker into the water. The rapid Cybertronian that came next was nearly illegible as they rattled on in their strange Crystal City dialect, but seeing Sunstreaker laugh, truly laugh was all that mattered. Moonracer rambled on and on, only pausing to help her sparkmate up and Stargazer clung to his father's neck, legs wrapped around his chassis.

"**Elita…mom, thank you."**

And we turned to see Sideswipe, his face aglow as he watched Sunstreaker cradle his son for the first time in nearly ten-thousand human years.

"Sideswipe," began Elita, her voice just as soothing in English, "You have nothing to thank me for. You and Sunstreaker are our little ones…now, come here."

And I let her reach up and embrace the mech she had taken in so many vorns ago, when our bond was still young, as were we. And Sideswipe visibly relaxed as he returned the hug, and I knew he would be much more like his old self from now on.

"Sides."

We turned and saw Moonracer, shyly stepping forward to greet her brother-in-law. He smiled and took her hand, pulling her into a hug.

"What's up Moonie?"

She giggled and he pressed a playful kiss to her forehead before she pulled away. She turned and reached into her subspace, searching until she pulled a small amulet out of it. It was small, no bigger than a rear-view mirror, but it was a deep ruby color and perfectly matched Sideswipe's paintjob. Moonracer held it out and Sideswipe gingerly picked it up.

"You-?"

"We buried her, right on top of the hill we used to hang out on. She would have wanted you to have it."

And Sideswipe clutched the amulet to his chest, bowing his head as he cradled it.

"Thank you," he whispered, wrapping the silver cord around his neck and tying it behind his head. It was then that I saw a similar pendant hanging from Moonracer's neck, but yellow in color. Was there anything else I didn't know about these twins?

And we were swamped by the rest of our team, Chromia and Arcee embracing their lost comrades as Ironhide, Ratchet and Bumblebee fussed over the younglings. One femme in particular let Bumblebee pick her up and refused to be put down after she heard him speak.

"What's your name?"

"His name is Bumblebee," I answered, somehow managing to move closer while my hand was still linked in Elita's. "What is yours?"

"Mellara."

"What a pretty name," sang Bumblebee's recording as he smiled at her. The little femme blushed and grabbed for the other youngling femme on the ground. Bumblebee picked her up and the two of them clicked excitedly.

"My sister!" chirruped Mellara, pointing to the slightly older femme. "Name's Argent!"

"Hello Argent," I said, sticking out a finger for her to shake. She blushed a cute orange and gingerly shook it.

"Hello Optimus Prime. Pleased to meet you, your Excellency."

"Just Optimus little one, I haven't been on Cybertron for a very long time."

"O-Optimus."

I nodded, about to tell her about Earth when I felt Elita pulling me around to face a bright-colored femme.

"You remember Firestar, right Optimus?"

I searched my processor long and hard before I found an image of her.

"Ah yes, Inferno's friend yes?"

"Sparkmate, actually," she said. "After you left, things got a little dangerous with Ultra Magnus in charge and we decided it was now or never."

"I understand," I replied. Elita and I had done the same thing.

"And these fine young mechs are Praxus, Cyberion and Riggs," said Elita, pointing to the lined-up younglings.

"Nice to meet you," said the first and oldest, Praxus, extending his right arm. I bent and clasped his skinny forearm in the way that Autobot warriors had greeted each other for millions of vorns.

"And you too. I expect you'll make a great warrior some day."

"Yes sir!"

Moving along to Cyberion, who was slightly younger than Praxus' supposed 1300 by about 200 vorns, I had to take a knee and then some to speak to him. He was a rather bulky little mech, quite like Ironhide was built, and he studied me with curious amber optics.

"You're a lot taller than Elita said you were," he blurted out, still staring up at me. I laughed, looking back to her.

"Oh really now? Well, she always does that so she doesn't seem so short in comparison."

That made him laugh, and Elita scowl, while I moved on to the youngest mech. Riggs was about 800, extremely 'boney' as the humans would say and wore a visor much like Jazz had. Seeing me studying it, he lifted it to reveal sightless optics behind it.

"A heat bomb melded his optic sockets to his cranial unit. We weren't able to remove them without severe risk to his processor. The visor is one of Jazz's old ones and he can see pretty well with it," explained Elita as I patted the little mech's head and stood up.

"Jazz would be proud for you to wear it," I told Riggs, smiling. Elita looked up at me, puzzled.

"What do you mean would be-no," she gasped, clutching at my hand. "Not Jazz? Primus I knew it. I knew something was wrong."

I felt a deep sorrow emanate from her spark and couldn't help but put my arms around her.

"Don't worry, I promise I won't let any others die on my watch."

Too bad I had already promised that more than five million vorns ago.

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"Optimus, you've gotta help me out man!"

I turned, seeing a rather panicky Sam running up to me.

"What is it, Sam?"

"Carly's pregnant! What do I do? We're not married-I-I can't be a dad! What about the Decepticons? I-"

"Sam, first thing's first, calm down," said, mild amusement at his predicament making me laugh. And he took huge, gulping breaths as he paced, panic still evident in his eyes.

"Sam, you are not calming down."

"CALM DOWN? YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN?" he screeched, clutching at his hair. "You try being calm when you're going to be a dad!"

I chuckled, picking him up.

"Sam, I raised the twins. I helped raise Bumblebee. I know very well how frightening the responsibility can be, but this is your child. Your legacy. Everything you teach them, every story you tell and all the mistakes you made, can be passed down in the effort to make their life better than yours."

"Really?"

"Yes," said Elita, walking up to us. "You have seen Ironhide with Bumblebee. Everything they do together has a purpose, a lesson behind it, from the smallest prank to a battle of life and death. You have experienced many of these things yourself Samuel. You will make a fine father."

And he smiled, looking between the two of us. "Thanks you guys. You were a lot more help than my oth- I mean my parents."

I looked over at Elita in shock. Had he been about to say 'other parents'?

"Sam, you honor us by asking," I said, setting him down. "Now go fetch Carly, I wish to speak with her as well."

And he left, Bumblebee entering a few moments later with Carly resting in the palm of his hand. I held out my hand for her and Elita bent to pick up Sam.

"Hello Carly."

"Hi Optimus."

"I heard that you're carrying very precious cargo."

"Hehe, it seems everyone has. But yes, I am."

I smiled, my optics crinkling with it for the first time in many years. "Good. This place could use a new little one running around it. And besides, I think it will do the men's morale good."

"You think so?"

"Of course. There's nothing better than a child to take your mind off of fear and danger for just a few moments and let you focus on the small things. Like how smart they really are or how innocent their aspirations to be a warrior can be."

And she gently rested her hands against her abdomen, where I could sense the slightest of heartbeats. Her expression was one of pure love and it made the sadness of the past few years lessen in just the slightest.

"I'll try to find a good name for him, but we'll call him Optimus Jr. okay?"

"I w-would be honored," I managed to stammer out, looking over at Sam. "Would you agree Sam?"

"Of course. His first name's going to be Bumblebee anyway."

"I don't think so!" said Carly, putting her hands on her hips. "No child of mine is going to have a bug's name!"

"It's not a bug's name!"

I chuckled, but Elita presented what we had both been thinking. "You know it is a male?"

"Well, we haven't found out yet, it's too early. But Sam's instinct is usually right and he thinks it's a boy," replied Carly. Elita and I looked at each other.

"Too early?" we chorused.

"Yes. I'm only two months pregnant. You can't tell until the end of the third month at the earliest."

"Three months? How long is a human female with child?" I asked, horrified. To be so vulnerable for so long!

"Nine months, silly," said Carly, giggling. "We can't all be born as fast as you guys."

"It is not that. Femmes, or in rare cases mechs, carry sparks for about five cycles. It is just the fact that we are able to figure out the 'gender' as soon as the spark is conceived. It comes into being fully formed, but must gestate for five cycles in order to be big enough to survive on its own. Since we seem to be slowly adapting to the timing of this planet, you could say that one of the femmes would be pregnant for about five months here."

They gaped.

"So you're saying males can get pregnant too?" yelped Sam. "Doesn't that hurt?"

"Samuel…although we are great friends, I must point out to you that we are in fact, not human. It is indeed quite common for mechs to mate with each other as well as femmes. Usually though, mechs must be equipped with a spark chamber, because we are not naturally created with one. Therefore, those couples usually receive their children from the Allspark."

His eyes were still wide and I sighed. "If we're going to have such a long conversation, let us sit where you and Carly will be comfortable."

We made our way to the 'sitting room', if you could call it that, in the corner of our hangar. I set Carly down on the couch and Sam came to join her a few seconds later.

"Now, first, I should be answering most of these questions since Optimus isn't a femme and has never considered getting a womb chamber."

"But I'm the one who graduated with a Level Five degree in mechano-biology," I replied smugly. "You opted for logistics and accounting."

"Fine. But don't come crying to me when those lug nuts you have running the budget tell you we're out of money."

"You guys went to college?"

"Of course. We may have been on the brink of war during our younger vorns, but we were still part of the social elite. I was from a wealthy family and Optimus was next in line to be Prime. It was expected of us."

"Well Optimus, at least I can talk numbers with your sparkmate," said Sam, smiling. "After all, the only reason I probably got into Harvard was because of the Allspark. But considering that, if the damn thing would just talk to me, I could probably tell you more about yourself than you know."

"And that would be wrong," I said, giving him a serious look. "Do not treat your position as a toy, Samuel. If you die and do not pass on that knowledge, it could disappear with you or be transferred into something inaccessible."

"Right. Way to put the pressure on."

"Oh, enough with the bloody numbers!" said Carly, crossing her arms. "I want to hear about this science!"

Ah, now I saw why Sam loved this female.

"Well, it ran in the family for many generations. Sentinel was a great physicist, as you know. He was several thousand vorns older than me and lived during the last generation of the 'Golden Age'. Before him, Alpha Prime was also a physicist. My real father, Vector Prime-"

"Whoa, whoa. You mean to tell me you're like some illegitimate son?"

I rolled my optics. "Yes, but that is quite frankly, none of your business," I answered, scowling good-naturedly at him.

"Go on!" said Carly, seeming to forget the real reason for her visit.

"As I was saying, my real father though, could already manipulate time, and I must have been the odd one on both sides, because I wanted to study in the biology field. I even worked as an anthropologist for a little while."

Elita giggled and I looked over at her with a raised optic ridge. "What?"

"Nothing. I just think it's funny that you thought you could make money in that field."

"Well, Miss 'I'm so rich I make the Prime Dynasty look poor', it wasn't about the money."

"I know that, darling. I just wanted to rev your circuits."

"You know, I'm starting to wonder why I missed you."

"Dear, I'm Elita One."

"Ah yes, that's why."

And I looked down to see Sam and Carly laughing.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"Nothing! It's just great to see you two acting normal. We though you'd be 'the perfect couple' on base."

"Elita is my equal in every way, including my sense of humor," I said, looking over at her. "That's why I love her."

"That and I drove every other femme in the vicinity away."

"That too. There was that nice Ariel girl from Kalis too…"

"Optimus, darling…"

"Shutting up."

Being able to bicker playfully with her made my spark beat harder than it had since I _was_ in college. I hadn't acted this way with her since we were first bonded. It made my psyche rest a little easier, a difficult thing since I had watched Sentinel died for a second time.

"I love you, Elita One."

"I know."

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Optimus and Elita are so cute! Aw c'mon, you know they are. They have to have a fun side in there somewhere and I found it.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	20. Child

_Chapter 20_

"_Wondrous, the mind of a child is."_

_~Yoda_

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"Bumblebee, you need to calm down. I'm sure Carly will be fine," I said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"But…sir…she is…in so…much…pain."

"Yes, but I'm told childbirth for humans is much more laborious than it is for us," I reassured him. Although, I was quite worried for her myself. "Ratchet is doing what he can to assist and Dr. Evans will not let anything happen to her."

"Are…you…sure?"

I smiled warmly down at him. "I promise Bumblebee, she will be fine. And I'm sure you'll be the first to know when the baby's born."

That seemed to calm him down as we waited outside of our Washington D.C. base's hospital. Carly had insisted up delivering close to her friends, so we did not have to wait to see her and Sam's child. Ratchet though, had taken that decision personally and was using his holoform to help deliver the baby and in his exact words: "Keep these malpracticing idiots from killing her".

Of course, she almost had a heart attack when a man with glowing blue eyes had tried to take her blood pressure, but that aside, Carly had been grateful for the support. Sam had not been…lucid shall we say, for the first few hours. After getting over the initial panic though, he had been diligent in making his fiancé comfortable and keeping us updated.

Elita came driving up a few minutes later, and transformed with a smile on her face.

"How is she doing?"

"Ratchet says she in pain, but fine."

"Poor girl, in there with all those men. Where is her mother?"

"London. Sam said they're coming after the baby is here."

"That's bullslag, she needs her mother!"

I sighed, and though I agreed immensely with her, it was not our place to judge.

"Elita, please don't make a scene. It will only stress out Carly more."

"I know…it's just. Augh! Her mother is still here, she should spend all the time she can with her daughter. Before it's too late."

And I knew she was missing her own mother. I had only met her femme creator once, but she had been kind and gracious to me and I remember wishing that she had been my mother instead. So, I took Elita's hand and sent her over to where Bumblebee was waiting.

"He's anxious as well. Why don't you too see if you can talk them out?"

Elita gave me a knowing look and she knew that I had been everyone's support beam since Carly had gone into labor and that I needed a break. Especially after Ironhide had heard once scream and had peeled out of the base faster than I had seen him move in a long time. The twins, Prowl and Wheeljack had all made a run for it too. Cowards.

Suddenly Sam came running out of the doors, an enormous smile on his face.

"It's a boy!"

And Bumblebee came rushing over, chattering excitedly, Elita following and equally excited.

"What's his name?" she asked, clinging to my arm excitedly.

"Daniel…"

We waited excitedly to see who he had been named after. Several of the soldiers and the other femmes who had landed with Elita had started a pool and Bumblebee and I were the top two contenders.

"Orion…"

Me? I saw Bumblebee's blue optics dim in the slightest.

"Samuel-" I protested, but he interrupted me.

"Wait, I'm not finished," he replied, holding up a hand. "Although it doesn't sound the greatest, we took a note out of an astronaut's book and also named him Buzz."

"Daniel Orion "Buzz" Witwicky," I said, rather like how it sounded. "Unusual, but I like it."

"It's a wonderful name!" gushed Elita, kneeling down to cup her hands around Sam in a 'hug'. But Bumblebee stayed silent. And then he knelt down and I saw his eyes light up, preparing to make a holoform.

"Bumblebee, be careful. You know how much energy a solid form will take."

But he ignored me, and below him the flickering blue light slowly wove together until a solid looking human male stood in its place.

"Whoa," whispered Sam as Bumblebee's holoform turned to look at him. And though this Bumblebee had blonde hair instead of yellow paint, and soft, pale skin instead of alloy, one thing stayed the same: there on his throat, exactly where his voice capacitor was, stretched a thick, white scar.

"May…I hold…him?" said the holoform, smiling. Sam smiled enormously.

"Of course! Hold on a minute."

And he ran back inside hospital to fetch Daniel. Taking a chip out of Bumblebee's datapad, Elita knelt and projected her solid holoform as well: a rose-haired woman with bright blue eyes and inhumanly beautiful features. I followed, even though I disliked doing so. I was still abnormally tall, no matter how I tried to adjust my appearance.

"Optimus dearspark, don't worry about it. Seven feet isn't very tall."

"Yeah, to us," I muttered, folding my human arms. My deep blue hair was always too long and in my face too. I looked ridiculous.

"I think you look handsome," said Elita, reading my thoughts. Her pale hand linked through my tanned one and it was almost as if I could feel it for a moment. And then my form flickered and I was reminded that I was a thirty-foot Cybertronian.

"Here he is!" announced Sam, bringing out a squirming bundle for us to see. And our holoforms leaned over to get a good look at the human child.

"He's so small…" murmured Elita, reaching out and stroking Daniel's forehead with the back of her fingers. I felt guilt race through my spark again as I remembered that I had been the one to deny her children of her own for all these vorns. Of course she loved the twins, but they were grown and one with their own sparkling. It was not the same. But I had my reasons.

"Here Bee, I want you to be the first to hold him," said Sam, gently placing his son in Bumblebee's arms. The young scout curled his arms protectively around the little boy and clicked softly. In amazement, we watched as the baby opened his pale blue eyes to stare up at him.

"He hasn't opened his eyes since he was born," said Sam. "He's been crying for most of it."

"Hello…Buzz…I am…Bumble…bee."

I let Elita lean into me as we watched the mech we had watched since he himself was a sparkling, fuss over Daniel.

"I…will protect…him…with…my life."

"Bee…"

"We are family…Sam. You are…my…brother," murmured Bumblebee, holding Daniel up to study him. And then he abruptly plopped him in Elita's arms. She was surprised, but only for a klick, but cradled Daniel carefully against her.

"Hello little one," she crooned, rocking him gently. "I may be a little scary when you're older, but always know that we will protect you little one."

She motioned for me to come closer and I did, cautiously mind you, and peered over her shoulder into the tiny face that stared up at us. I could see hints of Carly in him, in the nose and hair texture, but he was all Sam after that. He would be handsome.

"Now, let's see if we can get your Uncle Optimus to hold you without scaring him, okay?"

And though I vehemently protested, little Daniel was put in my arms and I have never felt more helpless in my life.

"Just watch his head Optimus. You remember taking care of Bumblebee, don't get so worked up."

But a sparkling is different than a human baby. Sparklings are much hardier. Speaking of hard…

"Now would ya look at that? Never though I'd see it."

And there stood not only William Lennox, but every single one of my men and his. And they were all staring at me, the fearsome leader of the Autobots, freaking out at holding a child.

"Oi Sam, what's his name?" shouted Epps from Sideswipe's shoulder. "It better be good!"

"Daniel Orion Buzz Witwicky."

"The hell kind of name is that?"

"He named him after Optimus and Bumblebee you idiot," said Chromia, knocking him upside the head. "And don't spoil the moment, I'm andAuntie now!"

And I turned back to Daniel and tiredly sighed.

"Sorry kid, but your aunts and uncles are crazy. I don't know how I've stayed sane."

"Cause you're crazy too, ya lugnut!"

"Love you too guys. Love you too."

It was so quiet in our quarters. Elita had always been a quiet, but deep, recharger and true to that, she was still recharging even as I shifted to prop myself up. Why such terrible dreams had been plaguing me lately, I did not know.

It was always about Sentinel lately, dying over and over again right in front of me. And then it switched to Megatron, holding an unfamiliar sparkling hostage. And what scared me the most was how desperate I was to save that sparkling. It was my child, and there they dangled in the grips of my worst nightmare and I was powerless to save them.

As I had been to save all those little ones at Floatilla.

"Darling, what's wrong?"

I looked down to see Elita, propping herself up so she could look me in the optics.

"Nothing 'Lita. Just a dream again."

"Optimus, you hardly ever dream, and when you do they mean something. Don't try to fool me mister."

"I wouldn't dare m'lady."

She tittered softly, like the aristocrat she had been before the War, and scooted closer to me. I gladly wrapped my arms around her and settled back down. Her fluttering sparkbeat slowly lulled me back to recharge and the last thing I saw before I shuttered my optics, was a gentle smile on her face as she rubbed her helm against mine.

"_Help me! Why didn't you save me? Optimus?"_

_I'm sorry Sentinel, please forgive me! Please stop, STOP!_

"_But why? Don't you care about me? Your son?"_

_Son?...no. Not this memory, please. Anything but that._

_And Sentinel's face morphed into Megatron's and in his claw-like grip dangled a small form, limp and silent._

"_Yesss, your son! Dead. Dead, dead, dead, just like your brother!"_

_NononononoNO! Anything but this, please. I'll trade anything, anything! Just make it go away! _

_But my begging did no good as the dream morphed to show the one time I had nearly lost Elita. Sure, I had nearly died many times, but only once had Elita dangled between life and the realm of Primus. _

_Energon._

_It was everywhere as she writhed in pain on our recharge berth, her body spasming as our sparkling died within her. And all I could do was scream for Ratchet over my comm. as I dropped my datapads and ran to her._

"_Lita no…"_

_But she didn't hear me as she struggled, didn't even flinch as I was torn away from her by Ratchet's orderlies. Didn't make a sound as Ratchet fought to save her life, but turned a shook his head at me. Didn't remember a single thing. She just shut down, retreating deep into herself to escape from it all._

_I remember everything._

_The word poison echoed through my processor. Poison meant for me, but Elita had gotten instead._

_How I had been so numb I didn't even realize they had moved me to another room for three orns. I remembered how terribly my spark had hurt when my son had died and how it ached with loneliness as Elita slept on, never moving._

_And always the stillness. That horrible, stifling silence that reeked of the very essence of death._

_I remember terrible things._

_Elita, waking up, not even realizing she had ever been with spark. She had forgotten our child. She never realized why she felt such a longing in her spark for a child. She never knew why she had gone out to battle, and come back with two little twins she had found in the rubble. Elita…_

_But then came the day she did remember. And that wasn't a terrible day._

_It was a nightmare._

_But I had blocked that day and had, had Ratchet wipe it from my processor many, many times. But it always came back._

_Always._

_And she had been dead._

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"Elita? Elita where are you?"I called out, searching through our steadily growing quarters. Since we had been granted asylum, we had begun to build our own city, deep in the Virginia Mountains away from most humans. Needless to say, we were more than a little behind schedule.

"Over here!"

And I rounded the corner to see her bouncing Sunstreaker and Moonracer's second child on her hip. Little Althiex, a soft green mech, was barely two. At home, he wouldn't even be out of his sparkling stage for many, many vorns, but we were on Earth, and he was what they would call a toddler now.

"What are you doing with him? Isn't Sunstreaker in charge of them today?"

"Well, I figured I needed some practice before it's too late."

"Too late for what…?" I cautiously asked. Please dear Primus, don't do this to me.

"Before the babies come of course!"

"Babies?"

"Yes, triplets."

Suddenly I shot up, my intakes heaving. Oh, it had only been a dream. Right?

"Elita!" I hissed, shaking her. "Elita wake up!"

"Wha-Optimus Prime you've got two nano-klicks to explain yourself!"

"You're not pregnant are you?"

She raised her optic ridge at me. "And who told you that?"

"No one…just, you know, dreams?"

"And if I was?"

Slag.

"You are…aren't you?" I said, knowing in my spark it was true.

"Yes," she murmured, looking down at her abdomen. "I can feel them."

I sighed. "Why didn't you-"

"It was going to be a surprise tomorrow, but your whole freaky-deaky Prime hoodoo powers never let me tell you anything first!"

"Okay…first, I don't understand which movie you're referencing, and second...a sparkling?"

"I know you aren't…fully supportive of the idea, but I won't let what happened to our first happen to this one. Never again."

I reached up and cupped her face, making her look me in the optics.

"Are you happy?"

"Yes."

"Then I'm happy too."

And she smiled, reaching up and putting her dainty hands around my massive one. "I love you," she murmured.

"Love you too," I whispered back, rubbing her helm.

"So…how do you think we should tell everyone?"

"Oh, I have a great idea," I replied, smirking. "But it may involve enlisting the help of Sam and Bumblebee."

And I leaned over and whispered it in her audio. She drew back with raised optic ridges.

"Thank Primus you take after your brother most days. You're pure evil sometimes Optimus."

"That's only half the family."

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You know I'd get here eventually. *smirk*

PLEASE REVIEW!


	21. Spark

_Chapter 21_

"_If I were the rain_

_Could I connect with someone's heart_

_Just as it can unite_

_The eternally separated earth and sky?" _

_~Tite Kubo_

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Weakness.

That word had been haunting my every though for the past three weeks, ever since I found out Elita was expecting twins, much to our mixed amusement and terror. Now we were not only responsible for one precious life, but two. A mech and a femme.

Of course I loved my children already. How could I not? But…I did not wish to bring them into a world that was still dangerous.

So dangerous.

"Optimus darling, you're worrying again."

"It's my job to worry."

Elita came over to my desk and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "Well then, come with me. Sam and Carly are here with Daniel. He's so big, you won't believe it!"

I could. He was four now, running around and screaming with the other younglings. The human child paid no mind that his other playmates were several feet taller than him and weighed four times as much. Daniel was a strong little boy, and he was rather good at keeping up.

"Alright, but only for a little bit. I do have work to do."

"You always have work to do, now move it soldier!"

"Yes ma'am."

I linked my hand with hers and we strolled down the vast hallway of our main building. Our living quarters were here, as was our mission control, briefing room, command center and rec room. Everyone else lived in separate domiciles around this building in what was being called 'Autobot City'. I personally preferred New Iacon, but I was just homesick.

"Optimus, it's been a while!"

"Yes Samuel, it has."

"Optimus!" squealed Daniel from his father's arms, bouncing excitedly. I knelt and put my hand down, letting them both rest on my palm as I stood back up.

"Hello Daniel," I chuckled, raising them so they were eye level

"Guess what?"

"You're taller?"

"Yes-wait, no! Guess what was last week?"

"What?"

"Guess!"

Playing along, I scanned through my processor for important dates in May. There it was: last Thursday had been Daniel's fourth birthday.

"Your birthday was last week."

"Yes! I'm four now!"

"So big," cooed Elita, rubbing his hair gently with one finger. "You're growing up too fast Daniel!"

"Am not! I'm still so short!"

But he was. Human life was so brief and time moved alarmingly fast on this planet. This world was always moving, always changing. I knew what drove humans to speed through their younger years: they wanted to enjoy them before they were gone in a flash.

"So, Ratchet tells me you wanted to borrow me and Bee for an announcement?" asked Sam as I lowered him and Daniel back to the ground. He handed his son to Carly, who was whisked away by a boisterous Chromia and Moonracer to chat about younglings.

"Yes," I said, and making sure no one could see, I gently rested my hand against Elita's abdominal plating. "Elita…is going to have twins. I wish for you to help me announce it."

Sam's eyes widened. "You're having a baby?"

"Babies," corrected Elita. "Two."

"Holy crap."

"You sound like Optimus," teased Elita.

"That's great, congratulations. I was hoping you guys would pop some out soon."

"I-"I took a deep breath, steeling myself to tell him what few knew about me. "I refused to have a child back on Cybertron. It was not safe. But here…here I think there is a fighting chance for peace between us and the Decepticons now that Megatron is gone for good. I wish you to also help us keep it a secret from your government until the twins are at least a few vorns old. You understand a parent's love Samuel…but-"

"A Cybertronian mech is much more possessive of his children than a human one. I do not doubt that you love your son more than anything Sam, but you know that we bond differently. Optimus is a Prime. These are his heirs. He will defend them from the smallest threat," finished Elita, true seriousness in her gaze.

"I understand completely," said Sam, crossing his arms like he usually did when anxious. "…A man broke into our house a few weeks ago. Bee had taken Carly to the grocery store and I was home with Daniel, taking a nap. I beat that man senseless, Optimus…I wanted to kill him. Is that wrong?"

"Sam…killing is always wrong. But protecting your child is not. What you felt is natural. But you should have called Bumblebee. You could have been hurt, or worse."

"So I don't have to join the Decepticons now?"

Ah, there was that teenage boy I had first met all those years ago. I chuckled.

"No Sam, you do not."

"Good. Because they have really bad teeth."

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"_Sentinel Maximus Ariston, the Matrix has chosen you as its next bearer! As one of the last Primes, it is your sole duty to lead the people of Cybertron towards peace, safety and a bright future!"_

_A dream…or a memory? Sentinel's memory._

_The Matrix was talking to me in its own way, and did not often do that, so I paid rapt attention._

"_I accept my duties with full knowledge of what is required of me."_

"_Then rise, Sentinel Prime, fourteenth Prime of Cybertron, Guardian of the Matrix and Keeper of the Realm of Primus!"_

_And he stood, deep blue optics shining with fear and excitement. I smiled proudly as many mechs I recognized from my childhood came to congratulate him. Skyfire, the leader of the Seekers. Brawn and Grapple, the cousin co-rulers of the Construction Guild. And then the towering figure of Megatron approached, his optics still silvery-white and a poisonous grin on his face plates._

"_I'm looking forward to working with you Sentinel," he said, clasping my brother's forearm. It was hard to miss the look of suspicion that briefly swept over Sentinel's face, but it was gone before Megatron noticed._

"_Yes, Lord High Protector. My father trusted you, and I hope I will quickly come to understand why."_

"_Of course, Lord Prime."_

_That was said with a slight snarl and I knew Megatron was already tired of being second._

"_Quite. Oh, there is Alpha Trion, please excuse me Megatron, I must be going."_

_Anger and hate boiled over, turning the memory a frothy red and sharp black. It morphed until I was looking at another memory, still Sentinel's, but this time it was of a younger Ratchet and Ironhide. Beside them stood Chromia and a femme I had never seen before._

"_I'm just sayin' Sentinel, a femme would do you good," said Ironhide, snaking an arm around Chromia's waist. "Look, even Ratchet has a girlfriend."_

_It startled me to hear Ironhide speaking without his distinct accent, but it was even more startling to see Ratchet with a femme. The feared Hatchet holding hands with someone? It was unheard of._

_The memory flashed forward and I saw why._

"_Ratchet," rumbled Sentinel, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I am so sorry."_

_There lying on the berth was the femme from before, offline and clearly murdered._

"_All for some stupid creds," snarled Ratchet, stroking her face, "And I couldn't save her," he keened._

_Another memory, this time, Cybertron morphed into an unfamiliar, but obviously ancient landscape. This was before my father's time. And I saw the Fallen, walking around with his brothers, smiling and laughing as they worked to build one of Cybertron's first towers._

_And then fire consumed the image and it became the war-torn planet I knew like the circuits in my hand. But I saw a bright light pulsing from the planet's interior and watched, fascinated as it achingly transformed to reveal a titanic, impossibly huge mech._

"_Primus," I whispered, watching as he looked around. Then his deep blue optics, shining with the light of a thousand stars, found mine and a warm smile graced his ancient features._

"_Optimus, child, so good to see you again."_

"_And you as well, my Lord."_

"_Please," he breathed, each word slow and methodic, "A simple 'sir' will suffice."_

"_Yes sir."_

"_Good mech. Now, I heard you're going to be a father soon?"_

"_Yes," I answered proudly, smiling._

"_Congratulations. And my I be so bold as to suggest a name for the little one?"_

"_It's actually two," I replied, puzzled._

"_Hmm, this is unforeseen, but wonderful nonetheless. One of each I presume?"_

"_Yes sir."_

"_Well then, it seems as if I have my hands full with two future Primes instead of just one. There haven't been co-Primes since the age of the Thirteen."_

"_Is that why you have shown me these visions?" I inquired, truly curious, and secretly hoping they were not ill omens._

"_It is not I, young one, who has shown you those memories. Although I gave Alpha Trion the material for the Matrix, I do not control it. It has a 'life of its own' you could say. It gives powerful advice through its collective memories. It would do you well to pay attention."_

"_But Primus, sir, will my children be safe?"_

"_Ah, you are thinking of your first little one. Do not worry, child, your twins will be born safe and sound. But beware the hand of Unicron, young Prime. He is moving his many pawns across his board, and your children are the most important piece for him to capture."_

"_Can you not help me?" I cried out. "Why must my sins be passed to my children?"_

"_Optimus, I have done more than you know, but my body is nearly destroyed. You know this. I can only give advice and encourage events. I am powerless to stop my brother on the physical plane. That is why I created your race."_

"_But-"_

"_Goodbye young one, and again, congratulations on little Sentinel and Skyrider."_

My optics shot open and I immediately rolled over and purged my tanks off the side of the berth. This caused Elita to startle awake with a soft cry.

"Optimus? What's wrong? Are you sick?"

If only you knew.

"Yeah, sick," I grumbled, panting as the Matrix thrummed in my chest and sent searing bursts of energy through my body.

"Darling, was it nightmares again?" Elita whispered, stroking my back as she let me settle my head in her lap.

"Yes," I whispered back, curling my arms around her waist. "I'm sorry that I woke you."

"Occupational hazard," she answered, gently rubbing my antennae. "But I love you, so I forgive you."

Only the light from the cleaning droid shown in our dark room and I could not see her face, but pure love flowed from her spark across our bond and I buried my face in her abdomen, listening to our sparks thrum softly within. Elita laughed softly and leaned back against the mats.

"Opt…Orion," she whispered, using the designation only she knew. It had been a lucky guess on Sam's part to give Daniel that name. Only she and I knew of the Matrix's origins and of a device Alpha Trion had entrusted to our care that could stop the flow of time. Even Sentinel, one our greatest scientists, did not know of its existence.

"Ariel," I murmured back, idly stroking her leg. That had been her name before our first child had died. Her first name that only I, and her family, had known.

"We're old," she whispered. "Old souls that were not yet ready to leave this world."

We were strange beings, she and I, paradoxical creatures. We knew of our past lives, as many Cybertronians often did, but we could remember things unlike others. Memories that came to us in the form of dreams and omens. But such is the fate of a Prime and their mate. I was descended from Primon's family, the eldest of the Thirteen Primes. Elita was descended from his mate's house of Femmax. And those two families had been linked ever since.

"Lita, my love, let me put it this way…Ironhide will always be older. No matter what."

And we laughed, as I let the ominous memories be filed away to the back of my processor.

My name is Sideswipe. I am the youngest of a pair of twins. My brother Sunstreaker loves this and often uses his age of exactly three point zero one klicks older than me to his advantage. Like how his systems unlocked only moments before mine and he drank high grade before I did just to frag me off.

But he is the one person I would do anything to make happy.

Because, from the day we lost our creators, I have taken the burden of the outside world, and have tried to shield him from it for as long as I can. I have cheated, stolen, and killed to keep Sunstreaker safe, but my efforts were in vain. There is only so much the younger can do to protect the older.

For Kaon was an unforgiving mistress and she often did not return those she took under her wing of despair.

_I searched. Oh how I searched for my brother in the deepest parts of a rotting city. He had shielded his bond from me to protect not only me, but the information he had sent to me shortly before he had been captured on reconnaissance. _

_Now I couldn't protect him anymore. He could be anywhere, being tortured, starved and who knows what else as I ran from shadow to shadow in search of him. I had been running for so long, tearing through the streets only to find nothing but old trails and the faintest echo of Sunstreaker's presence. But he was still alive, that much I could tell from the faint hum of our bond in my spark. _

_So I had doubled my efforts, immersing myself in the horrid culture of this prehistorically inclined city and was now one of the best extortionists on the planet. I was rolling in money, power and local fame, but they had done nothing to help Sunstreaker. Whoever held him had more money, more power and was more dangerous than I was. And these days, that was hard to do._

_And then, a sign. Literally._

_There he was, depicted as a nightmare come true on a poster. For the Pit. _

"_Nonononono," I chanted, ripping the flimsy metal advertisement off the building. Anywhere but there._

_Only slaves went there. Slaves, debtors and war prisoners. _

_My brother had been made a gladiator._

_And I knew, from this orn forward, he would never be the brother I had known._

I had rescued him, dragging my leaky and in-shambles frame back to Decagon to beg for Optimus and Elita's help. And they had brought him back, alive. And I had been so happy that I hadn't noticed that his icy blue optics were now deep crimson or that his face rarely changed from the anxious, stricken mask he wore for vorns upon vorns after he came home.

All that mattered was that I could protect him again, constantly watching as he recharged across our room to make sure the nightmares that he now had didn't make him hurt himself. All that mattered was that he never left my side after that incident. It was now up to me more than ever to protect my big brother. We didn't fight less, but the responsibility of pulling pranks fell upon Bumblebee and Jazz.

And then, she came.

Moonracer made everything better. Sunstreaker laughed with her. Actually laughed. He hadn't done more than give me a faint smile since his return. And true, I had been jealous of her for a while, but not because I was afraid of her taking him away. Sunstreaker would never leave me. And I was not upset that Sunstreaker was happy now; no, that is all I wanted. But I was upset that I, his twin and other half, had not been the first one to make him laugh.

"_Sides, I love her."_

"_That's great Sunny. I'm glad."_

_No I'm not. Why don't you love me anymore?_

"_Sides…I'm not going to leave you, I promise. You can't shield me from the rest of the world forever. I'm the big bro after all."_

"_I know that. It's just-"_

_Sunstreaker crossed the room and put his hands on my shoulders. His optics, now bright amber instead of the deep crimson he had worn home, bored into mine. It was like looking in a mirror. We had the exact same facial plates, and had we not had different frames, no one would have been able to tell us apart._

"_Sideswipe, you are my brother. We are family. You're part of my spark. _My spark_. I will never abandon you, I promise."_

But he had.

I had come home from a vorn long mission to an empty apartment in Decagon. Sunstreaker had called me over our bond a few joors later and revealed that he had taken Moonracer and their son into the city to hide them. Their son. I was an uncle.

But it had hurt so much, to feel my bond weakening with my brother.

Was it wrong to hate my own nephew? I wanted to love the bright green little mech that was so precious to Sunstreaker, I truly did. But I could not forgive him for taking away my twin.

I hated myself for having such heinous thoughts.

But then, I found my own reason to live. To love.

"_Sideswipe, move!" screamed Ratchet, shoving me away from a towering mech. "Get those femmes out of here!"_

_I reacted on pure instinct. Follow the superior officer's orders, don't look back, don't think, move. I had no time to demand answers as to why they were trying to rid their army of females. No time to ask why we were the only ones Decepticon femmes' mates could turn to and plead for asylum. Why I was helping usher a femme, who could very well have killed a friend of mine, or her mate had, into our transports as Seekers rained down fiery death upon us._

"_No, my sister!" cried one Seeker, reaching for her trinemate as the doors slammed behind her. I turned, following her gaze to see a ruby red femme struggling to lift a beam off her chest. As I watched, a navy blue Seeker fell out of the sky to land on it._

"_Going somewhere, sister?" he hissed, pointing his gun. I ran, flinging myself at the mech. He yelped in surprise as I struck him and we slammed into the ground._

"_Go!" I roared, looking back at the femme. Our collision had knocked the beam away from her and she didn't hesitate to transform and take off for Iacon. I turned back to the Seeker._

"_Thundercracker," I snarled, pointing my cannon at his head. He was one of Starscream's trine. A very high-ranking soldier._

"_Sideswipe," he hissed back. "I see you crawled out of Kaon eventually."_

"_Yeah, no thanks to you, you heartless slagger."_

_But he didn't respond to the taunt, and instead I heard the distinct click of a comm. link being shut down._

"_Listen to me."_

"_Why should I-?"_

"_Shut your fragging mouth and listen you stupid little slag!" he roared, throwing me off. "He's coming for your femmes next, so hide them! Hide them underground, in Decagon, anywhere! They are coming! __**We**__ are coming!"_

_And then he raised his hand and gripped my helm, his claws digging into my wiring._

"_If I hear so much as a whisper that you told anyone about this conversation, you're dead."_

_And he was gone, flying back to Kaon and the Decepticon base of Trypticon._

Thundercracker had been right, but he was too late. By the time we made it back to Iacon, nearly three-fourths of the city's femmes had been wiped out. Even the younglings were not spared. But I had no time to debate why, because waiting for me at Decagon was the red Seeker femme, and her crimson optics had lured me over to her as soon I was inside the gates.

Her name was Honor.

And after talking for many long joors at Sunstreaker's domicile, I learned that she was Thundercracker's youngest sister. I didn't care. She was beautiful, smart and more than wild enough to keep up with me.

We dated for a few hundred vorns, one of the best kept secrets in the Autobot army. For while we had granted many of the femmes asylum, they were kept separate from us in a little barrack all their own. I often snuck out to her quarters, taking the best energon goodies with me.

And then she died.

"_I don't understand," whispered Bumblebee, walking through the wreckage of what had once been our home. Smoking craters filled the front courtyard, half the command tower was on fire, and dead bodies littered the ground. "They have cut off our energon, killed our children and taken their own people's lives. What do they want?"_

_But I was oblivious as I saw Sunstreaker walking toward me, his optics finally icy blue again, his right hand clenched around something. I felt the odd emotion of guilt flowing from him and I was confused by it. Then his optics met mine._

"_No," I moaned, sinking to my knees. "No, no, no!" I cried as he stopped in front of me and opened his hand to reveal a red amulet, the same shade my armor. Honor's amulet._

"_Why me? Have I not suffered enough?" I keened, taking the necklace from my brother. I clutched it to my chest, doubled over as I sobbed. "I tried so hard…"_

"_I know Sides. I know," whispered Sunstreaker, putting his arms around me. He didn't apologize, knowing it would only make it hurt more. Knowing I would only blame myself._

"_Honor!" I screamed, smashing my fist into the ground. "Dammit! Why didn't you stay in the bunker?"_

"_I found her shielding a youngling. They were both dead, but she died trying to protect an innocent life," whispered Sunstreaker, making no move to haul me to my feet as he usually did._

_I snapped. Pure, unadulterated rage welled up inside my chest and I could feel my armor swell as it split to form my spiked ensemble I only wore when fighting got particularly rough. Right now though, it served as a warning sign for Sunstreaker._

"_Get back Bee!" he ordered, shoving the younger mech away as I shot to my feet._

"_I'll kill them all!" I rumbled, unsheathing my blades and speeding towards the direction of gunfire. "No prisoners, only trophies."_

But here I was, finally facing Thundercracker after all these vorns as he walked towards us, Barricade and an unfamiliar femme in tow. With them was a young mech, no older than six Earth years. But my focus was clutched in the Seeker's arms as he stood in front of Prime. There sat a tiny red femme, her wings pressed against her back in fear.

"We come under a truce," said the towering Seeker. "We have no wish to fight."

"Very well," said Optimus, motioning for us to lower our weapons. I could see Prowl fixated on Barricade, his doorwings flared in a display of territory, but he too lowered his acid gun.

"I let her die," I softly called out to Thundercracker. His red optics fixed upon me and I withered on the inside under their unforgiving gaze.

"I know," he replied, pure ice in his voice.

I ignored it, and turned back to Optimus.

"Prime, I will vouch for them. If they cause any trouble, it is on me."

I could see everyone watching with wide optics as I stepped forward to stand in front of the Decepticons. But Moonracer and Sunstreaker had wide smiles and that was enough. I walked forward, to greet my former brother-in-law, whose calm face suddenly snapped into a furious snarl. I was met with a crushing blow to the side of my face.

"NO!" I cried out when everyone immediately focused their weapons on Thundercracker. "No. It's alright, I deserved that."

Thundercracker's face had gone back to its icy calm, and the femme perched in his grasp continued to stare curiously at me. She looked so much like Honor it hurt.

"Don't look at her," hissed Thundercracker. I obeyed him. Out of the corner of my optic I saw Sunstreaker's face begin to slip into the desperate mask he had worn coming back from Kaon. I had to act fast.

"Fine. Just let me ask one question."

"One."

"Who is she? Yours?"

"No. My niece. Through my sister, Thunderblast."

My spark froze. Only two seekers could produce a seeker. And there was only one seeker that Thunderblast was not related to by her energon.

"Open your mouth, and I will kill you," hissed Thundercracker, seeming to read my mind.

And I nodded, slowly getting to my feet. I motioned for the turncoats to go in front of me, and they did so, Barricade keeping an arm around both members of his family. As I followed, a single name ran through my processor.

Starscream.

"Bee no, it's not worth it!"

I turned, the tone of Samuel's voice quickly alerting me that there was a serious problem underway. Not under my command there wasn't. And then came the sound of clashing metal and the horrible tearing of cables. I took off, leaving a flabbergasted Elita and William Lennox behind.

I followed the sound until I came to the rec room to see not Bumblebee, but Prowl entangled with Barricade on the ground, both of the mechs tearing at each other with a ferocity to rival that I had with my own brother.

"That is enough!" I roared, using my weight to try and pry them apart. Instead I got an elbow in the olfactory sensor. I swore, stumbling away as energon coursed down my face.

"Daddy!" sobbed Daniel in the corner, Carly pressing him against the wall as the two bots fought. She and Daniel were trapped by the fight, unable to escape the human section. That was when I saw Sam outstretch both his hands and roar in Cybertronian, desperation and fury etched onto his face.

"**Freeze!"**

A blinding blue light washed over us and immediately Prowl and Barricade stopped like trained animals. Their optics followed Sam, entranced and deeply submissive at the same time. I looked down as well, to see his eyes glowing that unnatural blue for the first time in nearly ten years. I too became transfixed as he continued to pace in front of his family, blue glyphs sliding across his skin as he walked.

"**Now apologize and stop fighting! If you threaten my family again, I'll kill you!"**

Barricade and Prowl moved to obey, shaking hands as if in a trance. I turned to see several of my men, including Barricade's own young son, Nebulos, watching in barely contained awe.

"The Allspark," whispered Ratchet, moving forward to catch Sam as the power left him in another flash of blue light and he fainted. I shook my head, stepping forward to seize the two brothers by the back of their necks.

"What is the meaning of this?" I demanded, taking their gazes off of Sam as Carly and Daniel ran over to him and focusing the attention to the feuding brothers.

"He started it!" roared Prowl, pointing. I frowned at my SIC.

"This isn't a schoolyard, Prowl. Stop being a child."

"I didn't start anything, you attacked without thinking like you always do!"

We all rolled our optics. Even his mate knew that was a lie.

"You were scaring the Witwicky family!"

"Not on purpose you aftshaft!"

"Slagger!"

"Bit-brain!"

"Useless pile of slag!"

"Droid," Barricade replied, deadly calm. Silence fell as the insult rang through the air. There was only one insult worse among our kind than to be called a droid. Non-sentient. Slave. I prayed that Prowl would not reply with the dreaded curse.

"Unicron Spawn!" spat Prowl, causing the assembled crowd to gasp. Barricade froze, his optics narrowing to dangerous slits as he stared down his brother.

"That is enough," I ordered, my voice shaking with barely contained rage at the two. I would give anything to not fight my brother, and here these two were, slinging the worst insults our kind had at each other.

"Ah'll take 'im to tha brig," said Ironhide. "C'mon Bee, let's go."

And they were taken away, most everyone leaving with them. The only ones who stayed behind were Elita and Chromia. They walked over as Ratchet continued to scan Sam for further injuries. Just seeing my sparkmate, her abdomen gently rounded as her sparking date drew nearer, made some of the pure fury melt away.

"Lita-"

"I know Optimus…but not everyone learns from others' mistakes."

"I haven't heard such language since Tyger Pax," said Chromia, kneeling to distract Daniel as his mother held Sam's head in her lap. "And I've never seen Prowl so irrational."

"Barricade has that effect on him," said Ratchet, satisfied that nothing was physically wrong with Sam. "But then again, I've never heard him call someone Unicron Spawn."

The worst insult in our culture, it meant that they were a demon. Unholy, soulless and a blasphemer just for existing. The very things the Dark One himself was.

"Is everyone alright?" I asked, looking around.

"Yes Optimus, thank you," said Carly, helping her husband to his feet. "And tell Prowl we forgive him."

"As you wish."

But I things to take care of first and I gently squeezed Elita's hand before walking briskly out of the room and making my way towards the brig. Inside the dark room sat the two brothers, separated by bars of crackling energy. Ironhide fell back, discreetly keeping watch by the door as I strode forward to face the brothers.

"Explain yourselves," I demanded, waiting for them to speak. "NOW!" I snapped, when they did not do so immediately.

"It was my fault, sir," said Prowl, his back still to me. "It has always been my fault."

"Don't act like you care! I left and you didn't even come after me!" accused Barricade, growling at his brother through the bars.

"And what good would that have done?" said Prowl, whipping around to face his brother. "Tell me? Besides, I see that they couldn't have been that bad to you…"

"You leave my family out of this!"

"Oh, so now family's important?"

"Prowl-"I interrupted, holding my ground when both of them snapped to glare at me.

"Stay out of it, Prime!" snarled Barricade, banging his fist on the floor. "You have no right to intervene."

"With all due respect sir, he's right," said Prowl, narrowing his nearly white optics. And then he turned back to his brother.

"I tried Barricade. I tried to reach you so many times, but you never responded."

"Why would I? It's obvious you didn't want me. You even found a new youngling to replace me after I left."

"How dare you? Jazz was my friend and he's dead! Training him had nothing to do with you and-"

"He was my replacement!"

"Shut your mouth! You know nothing!"

This was a rare experience, seeing Prowl so upset. His chest heaved, the mechanics beneath it revving in fury.

"I know that I called you to help when they were massacring the femmes and you never answered. You let our feud get so bad you wouldn't help me save Flamewar's life."

"This is a two-sided feud, Barricade. That responsibility falls to you as well."

It was obvious they were not going to make up at this point, but I strode forward again to offer them a deal.

"Alright, that's enough. I'm letting you go; being in here isn't going to do anything except cause more trouble. But if I catch you fighting again, your punishment will be much more than a little brig time. Now go!"

As they left, neither one acknowledging the other presence, I turned to Ironhide and shook my head.

"They don't know how lucky they are."

"Give 'em time, Optimus. Brothers ain't easy, and ya know that yerself."

"I know Ironhide. It just makes me angry that they could have forgiven each other long ago, and they haven't. There fight was over something so petty as name-calling."

"That's war."

_Then when will it end?_ I asked myself. Megatron was gone, if not dead, then dying. Why did this endless battle continue?

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Loooong chapter, but an enjoyable one to write.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	22. Change

_Chapter 22_

"_There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction." ~Winston Churchill._

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"Will she be alright?" I whispered, watching from behind the glass as Elita was whisked away. Beside me stood Sunstreaker, the only other Autobot on base who had stood in my place.

"Don't worry Optimus, she's with Ratchet. Moonracer said she didn't even feel a thing when Althiex was born."

"But will she be okay mentally?" I asked, turning to him. He understood immediately. After all, he and his brother had still been living with us when Elita lost our first child.

"Optimus, there is nothing like being a parent. You don't realize how much you can love something until you have a child."

"Heh, here you are, the youngling I raised giving me advice worthy of a mech twice your age."

"What can I say; I had to grow up fast."

"But I'm going to do everything to make sure this generation doesn't have to," I promised, looking down at him. I could feel Elita reaching out for me and I sent her waves of love, because I was pretty sure I couldn't send reassurance. I was terrified.

"I'll hold you to that."

"Just make sure your sons don't hit on my daughter and we've got a deal."

"Why sir, I'm offended."

And we laughed, easing the tension in the room by a little bit. A few klicks later, Bumblebee, Ironhide and Chromia squeezed themselves into the waiting room, William Lennox and Sam in tow.

"Sarah and Carly wanted to be here, but they insisted on watching the kids," explained William, settling on Irohide's shoulder.

"Make sure to thank them for their thoughts," I said, their concern making me feel calmer. Sam smiled up at me reassuringly.

"Don't worry about it big man. It can't be any worse than the announcement."

Memories of birds, big, angry seagulls to be exact filled my processor and I was reminded yet again why Bumblebee was never allowed to plan anything back home. I shuddered.

"Primus, I hope not."

They fell silent after that and I took to pacing again, checking my internal chronometer.

"What's taking so long? Shouldn't Ratchet be done by now?"

"Optimus, it's only been fifteen minutes, relax. They'll be in there for at least another twenty, if not thirty minutes."

They seemed like an eternity, stuck out here, waiting. Ratchet was very strict about it, no one but him allowed in the delivery chamber. Sparking was a very delicate process and any margin of error could make it go tragically wrong. The only other person he would ever let close would be First Aid when he reached Earth.

"Optimus, Ratchet's calling you."

"Wha-!" I exclaimed, turning to Ironhide.

"I said Ratchet's calling you, bit brain."

I tore through the double doors, sliding around the corner to Elita's room. When I got to the door however, I paused. Was I ready?

"Optimus, if you don't get in here, I'll reformat you into a toaster!"

I quickly opened the door to an irritated Ratchet. Behind him Elita was deep in recharge on a berth. Satisfied that she was fine, I turned to the smaller berth beside her, rather like a cradle in design, to see two tiny protoforms fitfully dozing under a soft thermal blanket.

"The one on the left is your little girl. She was born first by four minutes-half a breem back home. And to the right is your son."

I bent over and scooped them up, cradling one in each arm. My son slept on, purring softly as he curled against my arm, but my daughter opened baby blue optics, so like her mother's, to stare up at me.

"Hello little one," I crooned, smiling at her. She warbled softly, little silver fingers wiggling as she chattered.

"She's a right noisy one, that one," said Ratchet, smiling. "Just like her Uncle Sentinel was."

"I think she's perfect," I said, holding her closer to my face so I could rub my helm against hers. It was then that I felt their sparks bond with mine, two little flutters that I could now feel.

"I suppose you'll be naming your son Sentinel?"

"Yes," I said, turning my attention to my son. He opened his optics for the first time and I was astonished to see deep navy optics staring back. Coupled with his blue armor, like mine, he could have no other name.

"Alright, Sentinel as his first designation. Will you be giving him a second one?"

"Jazz."

I saw Ratchet smile softly out of the corner of my optic.

"Have you given any thought to your daughter's name?"

"Elita was very adamant about Chromia. But I wanted to name her after her grandmother."

"Your mother?"

"No, Elita's. Skyrider."

"Well, since you picked Sentinel's first name, we'll go with Elita's choice as her first designation."

"Yes, you'd better."

We turned to see a smiling Elita, gingerly sitting up on the berth. I rushed over, scanning for any injuries.

"Are you alright?" I asked. She put a hand on my chin and forced me to look her in the face.

"I'm fine dear. Ratchet is very good at what he does. Now, let me hold my children."

I deposited them into her arms and the amount of love on her face as she looked down at them made me smile.

"Hello little Sentinel," she murmured to our son, "And little Skyrider."

"Do you not like Chromia?" asked Ratchet, poised to change their new documents in the computer.

"No, it's not that. I just think it would be confusing to have two on base."

"Quite true," he said, coming over to check Elita over. "No pain, discomfort or disorientation?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine."

"Good, now go show those nosy harpies the little ones before they bust down my med bay doors."

Elita stood, thankfully not showing any signs of injury, and I put my arm around her shoulders as we made our way into the waiting room. As soon as we appeared, there was a flurry of noise and movement as they excitedly rushed over to see the twins. I gave everyone a look, and let Ironhide and Chromia see first.

"Oh my, he looks just like your brother!" said Chromia, studying Sentinel. "Can I assume that's who he's named after?"

"Yes, Sentinel Jazz. And that's Chromia Skyrider."

She looked up at us with wide optics.

"Chromia, you are Elita's dearest friend," I said, smiling. "There was no one better than you to name her after."

"I'm honored."

Ironhide was strangely quiet, curiously studying Sentinel. He didn't say anything, but laid a hand on Sentinel's helm. I was speechless.

"You would do that, for us?" whispered Elita, as Chromia did the same to Skyrider. They were promising to be our children's mentors, teaching them everything they knew about best and making an unbreakable vow to protect their lives above all else.

"Of course," rumbled Ironhide, stepping back so Bumblebee could curiously look at the newest arrivals.

"Was I… ever that… small?" he said, voice still crackling.

"Smaller," said Chromia. "You fit in the palm of my hand when you were that age."

From his shoulder, Sam stared in awe. "Althiex was awesome, but twins are pretty cool," he said, and I knew he was amazed at how synchronized their movements were.

"So Optimus, you got twins again. Someone really has it out for you," teased Sunstreaker, taking his youngest son from Moonracer as she came through the door. But his gaze was soft and I knew he was secretly proud.

"They're beautiful," said Moonracer. "And everyone is waiting outside to see them, even Barricade and Prowl."

So we walked outside the Med Bay to find everyone from the neighboring base waiting to see. Up front were Epps and Wheeljack, broad smiles on both their faces.

"Damn Optimus, twins and one of each all in one go!" he exclaimed, raising an eyebrow. "Pretty impressive."

"Well, I _am_ Prime," I said, puffing my chest out proudly. Several of the humans whooped and shouted congratulations from where they stood. Firestar stepped forward; leading her two other companions, and knelt.

"Congratulations Optimus Prime and Elita One," she said, formally pressing a fist to her chest in a sign of respect. "I am sure the heirs will make fine Primes one day."

"Thank you Firestar," I said, smiling and returning the gesture with a shallow bow appropriate for my rank. "But please, rise. We are not on Cybertron and I am not a king."

But in a sense, without a new Lord High Protector, leadership of our kind, if we ever reunited, would fall solely upon me.

It was a frightening thought, but today was not such a day for things.

I watched my son run, playing with Bumblebee on our enormous ranch, and was reminded of myself when I was younger.

"Daniel, dinner in five, okay?" I shouted, flagging Bumblebee down. My son pouted, but my best friend nodded, setting Daniel down so they could continue their game of tag.

"Sam, sweetheart, where's Will and Sarah? They were supposed to be here by now?" called Carly from inside.

"I don't know!" I called back. That was weird though. Optimus and Elita were supposed to be bringing the twins as well. It was the first time Carly would see them and she had baked a huge dinner, borrowed energon and all, for everyone.

Suddenly, a loud horn sounded from down the road and I looked to see Ironhide and Chromia rumbling down the road. I waved, motioning for them to come out back. They followed my instructions, coming to rest next to where Bumblebee stood with Daniel on his shoulder. Will jumped out of Ironhide, running around to open the doors for his wife and daughter, and lifted a giggling fourteen year old Sarah out of the back seat. When they were clear, Ironhide transformed to loom over everyone.

"Hello Sam," he and Chromia chorused, the latter giving Bumblebee a gentle pat on the cheek in greeting.

"Hey guys," I said, pulling out a chair for Sarah. "What took you so long?"

"Oh, just a couple of sparklings who could give the Big Twins a run for their energon," sighed Chromia, picking up Annabelle when she raised her arms.

"Really now?" I asked. "The great Optimus Prime and Elita One can't handle a couple of sparklings?"

"Heh. Ya got ta understand Sam, our young are born with more motor function than human kids."

"Yikes. You mean they're born as toddlers?"

"Pretty much," answered Bumblebee, laughing softly when Daniel tickled his neck. "Danny…stop that!" he gently admonished, his voice finally coming back only recently.

"Bee you're funny!"

We all laughed at my son, and I was helping Carly set the table when I heard the roar of Optimus Prime approaching and sure enough, a few seconds later a massive peterbilt truck came around the corner, a dusky rose Bugatti following him. When they pulled in, Elita transformed first to lift the twins out of Optimus' cab before the Autobot leader transformed. Much to the "husbands'" amusement, Optimus' trailer unfolded to reveal a playpen nestled among the numerous weapons.

"What's up Daddy Prime?" I teased, waving at Elita as I walked by. I was given a sharp glare by Optimus.

"Just because we are late, and I apologize for that, does not give you means to mock me."

"It absolutely does," said Will. "Our kids are past that stage, and that means the teasing falls to you. Sunstreaker is probably crying with relief."

Which was probably true. Up until the twins had been born, his son Althiex had been the root of our constant teasing of the mech. I was glad to pass on the postion.

"Enough of that!" exclaimed Carly, running out of the house in a stunning blue ensemble. "Where are the little darlings?"

I rolled my eyes, but watched as Elita knelt down and set the sparklings on the ground. They were tiny still, even shorter than Carly, but they sat up with ease and chirruped curiously at her.

"They're beautiful! Yes you are, yes you are!" she cooed, rubbing their heads behind their antennae. It cracked me up that Skyrider had gotten her father's and Sentinel his mother's. Other than that, they were the spitting image of their respective parent.

"Thank you Carly," said Optimus and Elita, the former still puffed up with pride.

"So, who's hungry?" said Carly, motioning to the table. I raised my hand immediately after Daniel.

"You two don't count. Oh, and I don't know what the little ones eat grade-wise, but I had Bumblebee pick up what he thought best before he came out a few days ago. He even taught me to make energon goodies…well, he let me watch."

"Thank you Carly, that was very kind of you," said Chromia, snatching up her goddaughter of sorts. Despite her fierce attitude, she would make an awesome mom, and Will and I both knew it. That's why we teased Ironhide constantly about it.

The table was only there as a suggestion, as we preferred to use our fold-up chairs so we could sit with our more than average-sized friends. As I dug into Carly's heavenly barbecue, I could see Bumblebee sneaking a goodie before he had finished the glass of energon in front of him. Given that he had made them, Chromia probably wouldn't smack him upside the head.

"Bumblebee Circinus!"

Oops, I was wrong.

"Motheeeer!" his radio sang, his doorwings drooping in embarrassment.

"Don't you 'mother' me mister! You may be taller than me, but don't think I wont bend you over my knee joint!"

"Bee, I'd listen to her if I were you," said Daniel, his eyes big. "Moms are scary."

And just like that, he diffused the situation and Chromia turned her attention on him instead of her son. Carly turned up her nose at us, crossing her arms.

"Hmph! I don't think I'm scary!"

"Babe, you're terrifying," I answered, kissing her on the cheek. She opened one eye and looked at me coyly before kissing my back.

"Primus, you two are worse than those two over thar," growled Ironhide, jerking his thumb in Optimus and Elita's direction. They froze as they were caught in a sickeningly sweet pose of feeding each other energon goodies.

"What? We never get any alone time anymore," said Optimus, pulling his sparkmate close.

"Bullslag. I swear, you and Sunstreaker," said Chromia, setting the twins down in their playpen. "There are so many people watching these younglings, it's a wonder you see them at all."

"I believe you owe me for babysitting for Bumblebee all those vorns," Optimus replied, raising an optic ridge.

"It was payback fer havin' to watch yer sorry aft when you were little," growled Ironhide, scowling. We all laughed after that and spent the rest of the night talking and snacking on our respective desserts.

Sometime around two or three a.m., Optimus folded up his trailer and gently placed the playpen, still full of recharging twins, inside for the night. Will had already taken Annabelle inside long ago to put her to bed on the foldout in the living room. Taking the hint, I stood up, pulling a bleary-eyed Daniel into my arms and laid his head against my shoulder. He immediately nuzzled into the crook of my neck and I laid my cheek on his head.

"I fixed up the building out back for you guys, even put in room for the trailer. I hope it's comfortable; Carly would be mad that her closet is gone for you guys if it wasn't."

They gave me horrified looks.

"I'm just kidding you guys. It used to be an old garage."

"Oh," said Optimus, rubbing the back of his neck. "Then thank you Sam."

He then transformed, hooking himself up to the trailer and heading down the dirt road behind the house to a rather enormous structure I had converted just for them. Bumblebee had passed out under a tree earlier; soft revving had been coming from that direction for nearly two hours now.

"Just leave 'im," said Ironhide. "He'll be fine 'Mia."

"If you say so 'Hide."

They decided to walk back to the building where Elita and Optimus were curled around the trailer that held the most precious cargo. I turned back to the house and walked through the kitchen where Carly was putting the last of the food away.

"You got him?" she asked, kissing Daniel's forehead.

"Yep," I answered, kissing her before going up the stairs. I took the second door on the right, after pausing for a few seconds to laugh at the snoring coming from the previous door. How Sarah slept through that, I would never know.

Daniel's room was the best in the house, in my opinion. From his windows you could see the lake further down the road and the soft, rolling hills that began the Appalachians in the distance. Of course, this was courtesy of the U.S. Government who had appointed me official liaison for the Autobots and felt it was best for me to live as close as possible to Autobot City.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah champ?"

"Will you turn my night light on before you go?"

I smiled, laying Daniel down on his racecar bed and tucking the blanket around him.

"Of course," I said, kissing his forehead and walking over to turn on the Autobot light Sunstreaker had made for him for his birthday a few months ago. It glowed a soft silvery light and played haunting, but soothing music from Cybertron.

"Night Daddy," he whispered, yawning as he clutched his stuffed cat tight.

"Goodnight, Daniel, I love you."

"Love…you too."

I smiled again, shutting the door behind me. Carly was already in bed and I stripped of everything but my boxers and curled up next to her under our massive comforter. She nestled under my neck and I shut my eyes, breathing in her sharp, minty scent.

Life it seemed, was perfect.

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While I was checking the security reels on Teletraan 1, I heard the soft footsteps of my nephew and the little seeker femme as they snuck down the hall for the third time this week.

"Nebulos, Simaria, you're not very quiet," I flatly called out, making them freeze in their tracks. While I was on less than amiable terms with my brother, his son had proved to be a fine little mech and I rather enjoyed the youngling's company.

"But Uncle," whined Nebulos, shaking up and down, "We never get to go outside at night! And it's a full moon tonight!"

Thundercracker's niece, though I was still unsure of that, Simaria was quieter as she stared up at me with amber optics. She wiggled her deep red wings at me and I felt my normally impervious, cold spark melt a little.

"If I take you outside, you can't tell your parents, they'll have a fit," I warned, taking each of their hands. Nebulos, being the older youngling, teased about it, but Simaria nodded gravely.

"I promise!" she squeaked, more serious than a four year old should be. Then again, she had been raised by Thundercracker and there was no more serious mech than him, save me.

"Good, now come on. It's late and I want to recharge."

I walked the out to one of the observation decks where they could see the stars in full view. Nebulos scrambled to sit on the barrier, nearly causing my processor to short out, but his wondrous expression made me forgive him.

"Uncle, which one is Cybertron?"

"It used to be there, just to the right of the moon, but it was transwarped somewhere else before you were born. No one knows where it is now."

"Oh. Because of Megatron?"

"Yes Nebulos, because of Megatron."

"Uncle didn't like Megatron," said Simaria from her spot next to me. "He says he was a bad mech."

I snorted. These kids didn't know the half of it.

"Was he really that bad?" asked Nebulos, and I saw that it was curiosity, not leftover loyalty that propelled his question.

"He used to be good. One of the best. But even the best loose their way sometimes, always remember that. Somewhere, deep in his spark, Megatron knew that what he was doing was wrong."

"Dad says he blew up Praxus. Is that true?"

"Yes."

"Then I hate him."

"Why? You were not born there."

"Because it makes dad angry. I don't like seeing dad angry."

He was thinking in such a childish way…but he was a child, no matter how mature he may act and I wanted him to stay that way forever. I knelt and picked up a yawning Simaria, motioning for Nebulos to follow.

"Come now, let's get you to your berths, it's late."

"Not tired," murmured Simaria, settling against my shoulder.

"Uh huh. Well then, I order you to go to sleep. And what did I teach you the other day?"

"That following orders- she yawned-is rule number two."

"And what's rule number one?"

"Prowl is always right!"

"Good, now go to bed!" I scolded him, ushering him into his domicile. I walked a few more feet to Thundercracker's smaller home, but before I could knock on the door, it flew open to reveal the towering Seeker.

"Thank Primus," he whispered, taking his niece from me. "That's the third time the runt's run off."

"Yes well, she'll make a great spy one day if she keeps picking the lock like that," I grumbled.

"I believe it is your nephew doing the lock picking. That Bumblebee is all too eager to pass on his skills."

"Quite," I said, scowling at the thought of the yellow mini-bot. Jazz had taught him a little too well. The little upstart had been taught to hack into my database, something no one else could do.

"Then I bid you good night," rumbled Thundercracker. I couldn't help but notice that despite his gruff scolding of the little femme earlier, Simaria was gently tucked into the crook of his arm and fast asleep.

"Why are you so attached to her?"

The seeker looked down at me and his crimson optics wandered across my face, as if searching for a reason to tell me what secret he held. His grip tightened on the youngling in his arms.

"I understand if you do not want to tell me."

"No. I will tell you because I think you understand what it is like to lose family more than most."

He invited me in, keeping Simaria in his arms as he sat down on the couch in the living room. I awkwardly sat down in a chair, perched on the edge so as not to appear off guard.

"I am the eldest of five children," explained Thundercracker. "I had four sisters: Thunderblast, Airazor, Nightbird, and Honor. Nightbird was the first and she died in the first siege on Iacon. Then Airazor, whose roll in the army was very similar to mine, was shot down over Crystal City. All they came back with for me was the tip of her wing."

I tried not to think about the Femme raids. A hundred vorns of pure senseless violence that no one, not even Megatron's own men could understand. They had been desperate enough to ask for our help in hiding their mates and femme children. It would only serve to prolong their suffering as they were relentlessly hunted down.

"Thunderblast and Honor were the only ones left by the time the raids began. I was desperate by then, since our creators had died long ago and was charged with their safety. Starscream, who is more concerned for our race than you would guess, was the one who organized the escape for our femmes. The last time I saw either of my sisters was under fire as they were loaded into the back of an Autobot transport. A few hundred vorns later, I learned that Decagon had been bombed by another trine under the orders of Megatron. Honor was dead."

Honor. The name sounded vaguely familiar and I remembered someone mentioning the name once or twice.

"Thunderblast went missing. I only stayed with my trine to look for her. I never saw her again. And then, just before they left to pursue Optimus Prime, Starscream came to me asking for help. Imagine my surprise when he met me later, a little femme in his arms. She was but a few Mega-cycles old, just a few hundred years younger than you own nephew. And I took her, because she looked so like my youngest sister. She is all I have left."

I looked curiously over at Simaria, her vents hissing gently as she slept. And though it was not obvious at first, there was no mistaking her parentage. He helm was that of Megatron's second in command.

"I have nothing to say, other than I am sorry that you have suffered so," I said, getting up to leave. It was making me uncomfortable to have the questions from so long ago raised again. Thundercracker's hand shot across and grabbed my wrist.

"You cannot tell anyone of this. Twisted as he may be, Starscream gave her to me to give her a better chance. Your kind will never accept her if they know."

"I will not tell anyone of lower rank. However, I must tell Optimus Prime. I cannot keep things hidden from him."

The grip tightened on my wrist and I hear the ball joint begin to fold under the pressure. Crimson optics flashed and I stared, hypnotized by the intensity of the anger and desperation in them.

"You can. You took in Jazz against orders, harboring an unauthorized turncoat. You let Sideswipe look for his brother, under the cover of an indefinite mission. You set those prisoners of war free. Do not think I am incompetent, Praxian."

I was frozen in disbelief. No one knew these things. No one.

"Sideswipe isn't very hard to convince."

I ripped my arm out of his grip, glaring up at the mech.

"Fine. I will not tell anyone. But do not pry into my life again."

"Very well."

I strode out the door, still wondering why he had entrusted this information to me. Why would he tell me such a thing-

Honor.

Now I remembered. I remembered the day after the Decagon bombing. Sideswipe had been on a rampage, his brother hysterical afterwards when the red twin had slumped to the ground, a red amulet clutched in his hand. The same red as Simaria.

"Why is it that those two are always at the root of my problems?" I implored to the sky, not expecting an answer. I didn't get one.

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Love you Prowl.

And hooray for updates! I was gone on vacation for the past few weeks, glad to be home!

PLEASE REVIEW.


	23. Legacy

_Chapter 23_

"_Sadness is always the legacy of the past; regrets are the pain of memory."_

_~ Unknown_

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"Daddy, daddy, can I go with you today?"

I turned, looking down to see Skyrider, her hands clasped in promise. Her white door wings twitched with excitement and her baby blue optics, so like her mother's, were wide.

"Yes sweetspark. But no more teasing Prowl. He gets enough from the other twins already."

"Okay, promise!"

I lowered my arm and let her scramble up and perch herself on my shoulder. She stood, clasping my antenna in her tiny hand and I started out the door of the family quarters and headed for the control room. Sentinel and Elita still slept, and sometimes I was convinced they were what the humans called vampires. It was early though, and I knew Elita was tired so I wouldn't tease her too hard about it later.

"Good morning Optimus!" called Moonracer from where she stood behind her mate, helping him fix the wiring of Teletraan 1's smaller computer.

"How are you feeling today?" I asked, coming over to inspect their work. She rubbed her back where her main support strut was underneath and winced.

"Twins are much denser than just one spark. Now I know how Elita felt."

"Are you sure you're alright?" asked Sunstreaker, look up at his mate. "I can get Ratchet if your back hurts too badly."

I smiled. Sunstreaker was arrogant, yes, and on the verge of being a sociopath, but no one doubted he loved Moonracer. She gave him a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine dear," she said, using his shoulder to stand up. She caught sight of Skyrider on my shoulder and waved.

"Hello sweetspark!"

"Hi Miss Racer!" chirruped Skyrider, waving. "Tell Althiex I said Happy Birthday!"

Moonracer hummed softly and her optics softened. "Thank you Skyrider, I'll be sure to tell him."

"That's right," I said, looking down at the couple. "He turns six today doesn't he?"

"Yes," said Sunstreaker, chest puffed out in pride and hands on his hips in the usual arrogant pose. "He'll be ready for battle in no time, just like his brother!"

Stargazer was now eleven, almost twelve, and already a force to be reckoned with. Ratchet hadn't been able to completely fix his hearing, but he had equipped him with a specialized sensor that let him sense noise through vibrations in the air. This gave him an extremely valuable advantage over his opponents and made him all the more dangerous. Coupled with Sunstreaker's training, he was going to be a lethal weapon.

"Sunstreaker, he's still a child, let him stay that way for a little longer," said Moonracer, putting a hand on his arm.

"I know that. But Stargazer was already in the training room at his age and Althiex won't be any different."

He was a firm father, and rather demanding of his children, but the protective hand on Moonracer's abdomen spoke of a gentleness he had about his children.

"Well then, I believe I can trust you to fix this computer then. And afterwards, why don't you go rest Moonracer?"

"Will do sir," she said, giving me a swift salute. Sunstreaker nodded and turned back to his work. I went on, coming to a stop at the tactical table in the middle of the enormous room. On it was a three dimensional map of the surrounding area and next to it, the world.

"Good morning Optimus Prime, glad to see you could haul your aft out of bed this morning."

"Good to see you too Flamewar," I grumbled at the bad-tempered femme. She smirked and tapped away on her keyboard.

"Now, now my fine lady, give our esteemed leader a break. It must be rather tiring running that processor of his."

I glared at Wheeljack. "Don't make me put you on probation," I growled.

"No sir," he said, head flashing in slight alarm. Probation for him meant no lab time. Which would probably cut down on repair costs, but he was a genius inventor regardless.

"Good morning Miss Flamewar, Mr. Wheeljack," said Skyrider, waving primly from my shoulder.

"Good morning squirt," said Wheeljack, his mask curving up as he smiled underneath. Flamewar didn't speak, but waved back and went back to her work on the keyboard.

"Optimus, stop wasting time and get over here!" called Prowl, motioning me over to where he, Ironhide and Sideswipe stood in front of the main monitor. On it was the President and Secretary Keller.

"Good morning gentlemen," I said as I approached, warning Skyrider over our bond to behave herself. She sat down on my shoulder, sitting properly as Elita had taught her many years ago.

"Good morning Optimus," said Keller. "And good morning little one," he said, smiling at Skyrider.

"Good morning Mr. Secretary," she replied, blushing slightly in shyness. The president nodded at her as well and she smiled. They turned back to me and I focused my attention on them.

"You wished to speak with me about sending Autobots to help with construction of a tunnel?"

"Yes. We want to build a transport out to Autobot City and vice versa so we do not have to waste as many resources," began the president. I was startled for a moment and the secretary caught it.

"Only with your permission of course," he added. I thought hard, and looked over at Prowl.

"What do you think? Would we be too vulnerable?"

He grew rigid for a moment and I knew his battle computer was hard at work.

"If proper security precautions are made, such as no unauthorized civilian use, it poses only a thirty-three percent threat chance. If it is made an underground facility, it drops to twenty-eight percent."

"Hmm, very well. But I'm afraid I cannot spare the resources at the moment. We do have another ship approaching soon, and it should be here in a little over three years."

Secretary Keller looked pleased, but the President's mouth was a thin line of displeasure. He nodded though and bid us farewell before the monitor went black.

"Geez, what a crotchety tight-aft," grumbled Ironhide. I flicked him behind the antenna.

"Watch your mouth Ironhide."

"Oh yeah. Sorry Sky."

"That's okay!" she chirruped. "I promise I won't tell Mama."

We all blanched at the thought and I thanked Primus she was trustworthy not to tell.

"Won't tell me what?"

We jumped collectively and turned to see Elita with a still sleepy Sentinel nestled against her. He was quite attached to his mother, and less sociable than Skyrider, but I knew he looked innocent enough now, and had probably been listening to our conversation. He was too smart for his own good.

"That Ironhide swore," said Skyrider, sweetly smiling. I blanched. She was becoming as much of a she-devil as her mother.

Sharp blue optics turned to Ironhide. He shrank away, with reasonable fear. Elita was not one to make angry, though I had done so countless times over the vorns.

"I'll deal with you later, but first, Optimus I just received a transmission from Alpha Trion."

I raised an optic ridge in curiosity. He had not contacted us for millennia, what could he possible want now?

"Oh, and what did he say?"

"That he's on board an incoming craft, about two days' time out. He's got three others with him."

"Who?"

"He wouldn't say, only that he found them wandering in the badlands."

Everyone around us smiled and went to pass on the news, and we handed our children over to Ironhide for a moment, but Elita's optics met mine and they were full of deep sadness. Last time we had seen Alpha Trion, our child had died and she was on the verge of death. Subconsciously, we associated him with that fear.

"It will be okay," I whispered, taking her hand in mine and squeezing it softly. "I promise."

I promise.

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Two days later I was outside in our park, lying in the grass as Sentinel and Skyrider wrestled a few feet away. The soft afternoon sunshine felt wonderful and I could see Bumblebee enjoying it as well as the two little femmes he had informally taken in scampered around his frame. It was the human holiday of Independence Day, and a little ways off, the scent of roasting meat filled the air as Sam and Epps battled over the right to grill. Apparently, according to William Lennox, it was a 'man thing' and that's why he had brought his own grill. He said no man worth anything shared his grill with another man.

It was a custom too strange to understand, even for Wheeljack, the strangest of us all.

"Optimus!"

I opened one optic to see Daniel standing beside me. I heaved a patient intake. My own children had just left me alone a few hours ago, after a morning full of boisterous questions and loud horseplay, and now it seems that was to be my fate today. To be the children's question answerer.

"Yes?"

"Where's Elita? I wanted to show her something."

"She's by your mother, near the lake with the other femmes."

Sarah and Carly had taught them, and Prowl, the glory of sunbathing and I knew they were all splayed out on the beach, solar panels spread wide open. We did not feel in the normal way, but sunshine was something new to us, as our planet had been very distant from our star, and we loved it.

"Thank you!" he replied, running off faster than a nine-year old human should be. I suspected that Sam had passed some of the Allspark's power to his son, but did not worry too much about it. We would cross that bridge when we got there. Today was a day for celebrating, both the independence of the human's infant country and for the arrival of four more Autobots.

I closed my optics once I was sure he was gone and let the sun's energy seep into my solar panels. Ah, to relax for once-

"Optimus?"

I groaned. This time though, I was surprised to see Moonracer, balancing her twin daughters in her arms. She had rather unexpectedly gone into spark labor after my meeting with the president, and had caused quite a panic. Let's just say Sunstreaker, an experienced father, had hyperventilated, fainted, and fainted again in the space of ten minutes. Twins were tough.

"I was would like, if it is not too much trouble, for you to come with me. Sunstreaker and I would like to discuss something with you."

Inside my lazy side pathetically keened in protest, but I got to my feet anyway and followed her. I signaled to Bumblebee and he gave me a thumbs up to let me know he was watching the twins. She led me down to a gravelly patch down by the lake where Sunstreaker and the other adults were watching in amusement as Stargazer swung his younger brother and Daniel around in the water. Elita got up when she saw me and came over to kiss my cheek.

"Um, Optimus?" asked Sunstreaker, coming with his hands twisting nervously.

"Yes?"

"Would you do us the honor of being the girls' godfather?"

My optics widened in surprise, not only at the human term he had used, but at the request. I had not been as close to the twins as Elita, and generally enjoyed a good, but distant, relationship with them.

"I-I would be honored," I stammered out. Moonracer beamed, her silvery faceplates softening with the smile.

"Come now, let me hold one of them," said Elita, holding out her arms. She was a rather doting 'grandmother' and loved to play with their children. The soft orange femme, Nova, was put in her arms and Elita lit up.

"Would you like to hold Kalis?" asked Moonracer, offering her other daughter to me. I looked up at the mention of her name.

"You named her Crystal?" I asked. Sunstreaker grinned sadly and Moonracer nodded.

"Of course, Crystal City was our home city. Just as we named Althiex as such because that was where I hid when the ship was lost. Nova is named after the prime."

"I am again, honored," I said, taking Kalis from her mother. The golden femme slept on as I nestled her in the crook of my elbow. She looked extraordinarily like her father, wing shaped head fins and all.

Then alarms blared and everyone blasted into action. Moonracer snatched up her daughters, sprinting towards the beach to collect her other children. Prowl was at my side in an instant and I was off, tearing across the ground back towards my children. Elita followed behind, Carly and Daniel in her right arm, Sarah and Annabelle in her left. I could already hear the approaching roar of a Seeker and I sped up, tearing up mountainous clods of dirt as I ran.

They would go for the twins. My children. My heirs.

Something shifted in me and I felt my strides lengthen as I raced towards the twins. My processor raced, calculating twenty moves ahead as Bumblebee came into sight, the twins and his own charges clutched to him as he ran for cover. For a moment, I saw him as a threat, but it passed and I zeroed in on Skyrider, dangling off his shoulder and scrabbling to hang on as the young scout ran. I sped up.

"Bumblebee!" I roared and he turned, relief lighting up his face as he caught sight of me. I was so close.

"OPTIMUS!" shrieked Elita pointing to the skies. The seekers were overhead, engines thundering. I saw one unsheathe its weapons and suddenly I knew why my mate screamed so hysterically.

"NO!" I roared, scrambling towards my children. Bumblebee saw my face and turned to see a missile screaming for him. He took a step towards me, optics alight with fear. And then he disappeared in a ball of light.

I howled.

"Nonononono!" I wailed, sinking to my knees and clutching at my processor, screaming at my failure to protect them.

And then, I dared look up to see and red and gold mech, shield raised above his head. Behind him crouched Bumblebee, four little bodies crushed against him, alive. I felt my spark unfreeze and once I was sure they were okay, I went into battle mode.

I unsheathed my sword and drew my pistol. How dare they threaten my children? I took off running, gaining momentum as I raced for the seeker. Suddenly the other mech was in front of my again and I prepared to blast through him before he knelt. I took the hint and leapt, landing on his back and we sprang up as one, launching me into the air. The seeker never stood a chance. He shrieked as I latched on and drove my sword straight through his spark.

The other one blinked out of existence and I cursed that he had not been the one I had killed. Skywarp was too close in rank to Starscream and extremely dangerous to keep alive. I pushed the seeker off my sword with my foot and stood to my fully height, scanning for any other threats. Satisfied there were none, I felt my processor begin to slow and curiosity reigned as the other mech approached me.

"Who are you?" I asked, still wary even though he had helped me.

"Name's Hot Rod," he said, saluting. He was nearly as tall as me, no easy feat, but I was surprised to see how young he was when he got closer. He must have been at least 500 vorns younger than Bumblebee as the very least. He fought dangerously well for someone so young.

"Optimus Prime."

"I know who you are. Alpha Trion and the others have told me all about you and your men."

He grinned and for a moment I was stuck in time as the expression on his faceplate mirrored that of Elita when she was happy. Right down to the way her olfactory sensor curled slightly on the left. Speaking of Elita…

"Optimus!"

I turned to see her with Sentinel and Skyrider clutched to her chest. Elita's optics were full of relief, but it horrified me to see the pure terror in my children's optics as they clung to their mother, tears of watery energon rolling down their faces. I opened my arms and she rushed into me. I wrapped my arms around her and turned to Hot Rod.

"Thank you. You saved my children's lives."

"It was what anyone else would have done," he said. Elita looked up suddenly at this revelation and went over to fling an arm around him.

"Thank you. You have made a debt we will never be able to repay."

I saw my other soldiers emerge from the woods, cautious and quite tousled. Chromia leaned heavily on Ironhide, her left leg a mangled bundle of twisted wires and metal. Sunstreaker sported an enormous slash across his face, half his face covered in drying energon. The murderous rage in his optics was more terrifying and when I looked in his arms, I understood why. Stargazer lay unconscious, leaking heavily from a shoulder wound. Behind him Moonracer clutched her newborn daughters to her chest and Althiex clung to her leg with tears coursing down his face.

"Whose Goldie over there?" asked Sideswipe, intercepting his brother before he could unleash his rage upon us. Ratchet rushed over and led Sunstreaker away to the Med Bay.

"He says his name is Hot Rod. He came with Alpha Trion."

"Wait, _the _Alpha Trion. Old codger who helped create the Matrix of Leadership?"

"Mind your tone Sideswipe. And yes he-"

"Is tired and could use a little high-grade."

We turned in surprise to see a short, ancient mech making his way towards us. He was rather similar in design to the Fallen, with the almost organic way his structure moved and looked, but his face was that of a kind mech, not an evil one. Sad midnight blue optics found mine and he came to a stop in front of me, leaning heavily on an elaborate staff.

"Hello Orion."

"Alpha Trion," I gruffly replied. His arrival was unannounced, as usual. At least he seemed to arrive at the best times.

"Hmph, still cranky as ever I see. Well, that can't be helped, but that young lady over there needs her leg tended to. First Aid! Perceptor! Come here!"

Out of the woods came two mechs, one rather short and colored similarly to Ratchet and the other tall, maroon and lanky. The latter nodded to me and I nodded back. I remembered him vaguely from my time as a scientist. They eased Ironhide away from his mate with practiced ease and the one called First Aid began work on Chromia's leg while Perceptor administered a small dose of liquid nitrogen to numb her pain receptors. Satisfied the wounded were being taken care of, I turned back to the ancient mech before me.

"Orion-"

"My name is Optimus. Not Orion. And you need to explain why you are not on the ship due in a few years," I snarled, past pains making me impatient with the old inventor. He just smiled sadly at me.

"Because I brought you something very special. But there will be time for that later. Come now, I want to see your new little ones."

And he walked off his long, braided 'hair', glowing soft blue like fiber optics, swung behind him and I remembered following him around as a child, always asking questions and always waiting eagerly for answers. The magic of his hypnotic braid worked and I followed eagerly, keen to have my question answered.

"Ah, there they are! Hello young ones."

Elita's optics were wide with that instinctual fear again and I saw her take a step back from Alpha Trion. This made the old mech sad and he raised his hands in defeat.

"No worries, I'll get to know them later. For now, I assume you have met Hot Rod?"

Elita's eyes were fixated on the young mech, following his movements, mesmerized. I did not understand why, but I was so drawn to this being as he came over to stand by Trion.

"We've met. I also met the human called Witwicky."

"Ah yes," said Trion, a glint fascination in his eyes. "The human child who is now the bearer of the Allspark's knowledge."

"That's me!" shouted Sam from below, sarcasm imminent on his face. Behind him stood the other humans, inquisitively looking at the two newcomers.

"Yo Elita, is he a relative or somethin'?" shouted Epps, jerking a thumb at Hot Rod. "He looks jus' like you!"

"Or something," said Alpha Trion, grinning. "But we can discuss that inside, out of danger."

And everyone followed him except Elita and I, who hesitated for the briefest klick before bringing up the rear.

My spark fluttered.

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I stood next to Optimus as everyone headed for the Rec room except for Hot Rod and Alpha Trion. I had entrusted the twins to Ironhide whose face had told me to take as much time as we needed. The old mech, whom I associated with so much fear and pain, led us towards the Med Bay and when the doors slid open, Ratchet was closing the door to a private room I assumed was where Sunstreaker and his family were hovered around Stargazer. When his optics caught sight of Hot Rod, he stopped dead.

"Ratchet?" I whispered, clutching Optimus' hand. "Is something wrong? Is Stargazer alright?"

"He's fine, but-"

"Wait Ratchet, I wish to inform them. Come, let us go to your office," said Alpha Trion, holding up a hand. The look on the medic's face was that of a criminal going to his execution. Once the door was shut behind us, I began to panic in the slightest.

"What is it?" I said, looking to Alpha Trion in desperation. "Is there something wrong with my babies? What aren't you telling us?" I demanded.

"Ariel please calm-"

"Don't you _dare,_" I hissed, pointing an accusing finger at the old mech. "You have no right to call me that! You didn't save my child, you let him die!"

"No, I did not. He is, in fact, doing rather well."

I crumpled. Beside me I felt Optimus' spark collapse. Hot Rod looked at both of us in concern and confusion and I felt the strangest urge to comfort him.

"Alpha Trion, sir, I do not understand why you need me here," he said, coming over to help Optimus and me up.

"Because you are their son," whispered Ratchet, pure anguish on his face. All three of us froze.

"That's not possible," said Hot Rod, looking back and forth between Ratchet and Alpha Trion. "My parents are dead. He found me in the rubble of Decagon-"he stopped and turned back to us.

I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him closer until I could see every detail of his face. His frame wasn't nearly as broad as Optimus' but easily twice the size of mine, however, he seemed so small to me…like a child. I felt my spark race as I searched the face before me. There. My nose and Optimus' optics. My high cheekbones and his arching optic ridges. The same smile I saw on my own face. The deep blue optics I saw on Optimus' every day.

"Rodimus," I whispered, hoarsely repeating the name as I pulled him to me. He hesitantly rested his head on my shoulder before burying his face into my chest and sobbing, wrapping long arms around me. I looked over to Optimus with disbelief, but it morphed into confusion when I saw the anger on his face.

"What are you trying to pull?" he asked Alpha Trion, voice icy cold. "My son is dead. Ratchet told me him-"

"I lied."

His gaze shot over to the mech, tears pouring down Ratchet's face. I hadn't seen him cry since…since the day I had lost Rodimus. I felt anger welling up in my own spark, but it was overshadowed by Optimus' rage. He snarled and for a klick, all I saw was Megatron as he launched himself at Ratchet.

"What the FRAG?" he roared, slamming into the smaller medic and pinning him to the ground. His energon blade was out, but his mask snapped back to reveal a horrible grimace. His antennae were snapped back, curving away from his helmet like horns.

"Do you know what we have suffered? What you have done? My son…my little boy," he murmured, turning to look at Rodimus, still clutching me tightly. I tightened my grip around him, stroking his helm. Optimus flattened his antennae in defeat, pushing Ratchet away.

"I did not want to Optimus, but he convinced me it was the only way to save our people."

There was the fury again and I saw Optimus snap back to Alpha Trion. The old mech's face was one of regret, but I sensed a bit of self righteousness and it made me furious.

"You must understand Optimus… Megatron knew of him, would have killed him too. I took him to save his life. To save your life."

"My life? Since when has that ever been your concern?" asked Optimus, his voice so quiet I could barely hear him. Betrayal and anguish sang across our bond. "When have you ever done anything in my best interest? In Elita's? You have done nothing but make our lives miserable."

"That's just it. You misjudge how important you are. You and Elita are everything. The saviors of our race. I didn't save her because I wanted to, I saved her because I had to. You two have more power than you know, and a child would have only put you at risk. A liability. I had to do it."

I was stunned, as was Rodimus, whose grip on me had gone slack. Optimus didn't move for a moment, and then he fired a single shot, slicing off Alpha Trion's braid. The old mech cried out in pain, but I ignored it. It was far from the amount he deserved.

"Get. Out," said Optimus, narrowing his optics.

"How dare-"

"OUT!" he roared.

"The boy must go with me," demanded Alpha Trion. "He cannot remain here. He will be the death of you. Just as your other children will."

"Stop this!" cried Ratchet, pulling himself up. "Stop this now! You will not take him again."

Alpha Trion whipped around, striking out with his staff and sending Ratchet through the wall.

Optimus fired again. This time it hit the mech's elbow, blowing off his lower right arm. The staff clattered to the floor and I swept Rodimus away from it, standing protectively in front of him. He had been taken once. I would not let Alpha Trion try again.

"Go. Before I kill you."

The old mech narrowed his eyes and I knew what he was thinking of. His gaze was no longer fixed on Optimus, but had fallen to Rodimus.

"Come boy. You are not wanted here. If you love them, you will leave."

I felt Rodimus shift, almost drone like at the demand. I stuck out my arm and blocked his way.

"No. He's not going anywhere. You are."

And I did the unthinkable. I whipped out my pistol and shot him. He fell to the floor, offline before he hit the ground. I panted, my intakes heaving. Optimus looked at me in disbelief. I only dropped my weapon, feeling justified in my action.

"No one is taking you away. Never again," I said, looking up at my son. "You belong right here, with us."

A slim golden hand laced with my own dusky rose color tentatively reached out and took hold of my hand.

"Mother," he whispered, squeezing my hand. I sobbed, feeling his spark latch onto mine.

"Yes," I replied, squeezing back. "I'm your mother. And Optimus is your father."

Taking the hint, Optimus came over and stood in front of his son. He reached out, exactly like Rodimus had moments before and lovingly placed a hand on his helm. His thumb digit stroked his forehead gently and Rodimus leaned into the gesture, just as his siblings did.

Behind us, I heard Ratchet stir. We turned and he rose above the desk, his face still warped with grief.

"I am so sorry," he said, his voice a bare whisper. I opened my mouth to say something, but Optimus beat me to it.

"You tried to tell me, didn't you? All those vorns ago, you tried to give me something, but Alpha Trion stopped you."

Ratchet opened his subspace at his hip and drew out a piece of silver plating. It was small, the size of a youngling's audio shield…my eyes snapped up to Optimus' where the rune for Prime was. Where it was on Sentinel and Skyrider. Where it was not on Rodimus. Ratchet came over and put it in my hand.

"I did it so I could protect him. Alpha Trion was furious. He never wanted you to know."

I clutched the plate close, looking up at Optimus. For once though, his optics did not meet mine. Instead, they were focused on Rodimus.

Our son.

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Whew, that was a hard chapter to write. I liked making Alpha Trion mean, because come on; he wasn't exactly 'warm-hearted' in the episode or comics either. He was distant. Cold even. So please don't hate me!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	24. Honor

_Chapter 24_

"_There is no permanent love but that which has duty for its eldest brother; so that if one sleeps, the other watches and honor is safe."_

_0_

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_0_

I watched Rodimus sleep, curled around his siblings and felt a huge surge of protective love for my children. The twins had been a little confused at first about their brother, unsure of our words and questioning why they had never seen him before, but they soon figured out the strange fluttering in their sparks was their bond with him and became near inseparable.

The bond. I still hadn't figured out how Alpha Trion had hidden my son from me. Perhaps I could ask him when he woke up. If he woke up, that is. Elita shot him with deadly aim, but his life force refused to leave the ancient frame it inhabited. I have many questions, and he _will _answer them.

The men though, are a different story.

Ratchet has become very quiet recently, his anger tempered by guilt, and Elita and I have tried our best to reconcile with him. He had betrayed our trust, yes. Done a terrible thing by helping Alpha Trion take our son, yes, but he was still my friend. He felt guilt, whereas Alpha Trion did not. I knew all too well what a burden guilt can be.

Ironhide was more boisterous about it than Ratchet. He had introduced himself to Rodimus with a crushing hug and a comment on his good taste in weaponry, unlike me apparently. Chromia had hugged Elita, telling her how happy she was for us. Bumblebee had been delighted that there was finally a soldier younger than him. He and Rodimus got along magnificently.

The others though, were a bit wary. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe approached him together, circling him like Voltures back home. One appraising worth (Sideswipe), the other assessing strength (Sunstreaker), they had been quite an intimidating pair. But Rodimus made me proud and stood his ground against them and strength was the only thing they respected. They were buying drinks later.

Rodimus, being a Prime, was of course extremely handsome, not that I was bragging or anything, and he knew it. So, he went for Arcee as a matter of reason because she was closest in age to his…how old would he be now? If Bumblebee was now 2300 vorns old, that meant Rodimus was 1776 vorns old. I wonder if the humans would find that number humorous since he arrived on their independence day. Arcee was just a bit older than Bumblebee, she was around 2500 vorns old now, and we soon learned that wasn't all they were close about.

I haven't seen such jealousy over a femme since Sam was raging about Carly's boss all those years ago. Bumblebee also proved he had learned more moves from Jazz than I cared to think about, and had knocked Rodimus on his aft in less than three astro-seconds the moment he touched Arcee's hand.

"Hands off!" he had thundered, flaring his doorwings. A moment later, he was helping my son to his feet and making sure they were still on good terms. And that it was very clear that Arcee was _off limits_ to all the mechs on base. They were now a team of two, out to protect what was Bee's.

After an evening full of a short circuited Prowl, irritable ex-Decpticons and giggling femmes, Rodimus was reasonably tired and had come over to us to excuse himself.

"Father," he had said, so distant. "May I be excused?"

"Call me dad," I said, standing up and putting an arm around him, beckoning Elita to join us. "And she's Mom, or whatever you feel comfortable with calling us."

"Then call me Hot Rod. All my friends do…or they did anyway."

"Very well Hot Rod," I said, smiling.

"Thanks dad. You too Mama."

We were met with two excited younglings at our quarters, running around when they were supposed to be in bed, who had begged Rodimus to sleep with them.

"Please, please, please Roddy!" begged Skyrider, tugging on his hand. Rodimus handled himself considerably well for one who hadn't spent much time around younglings. He had scooped them both up and let them curl up on his chassis when he lay down, rather like the Witwicky's cat. They were all deep in recharge before we could wish them a good night.

Now it was nearly four in the morning and Elita was asleep, her head in my lap as I stood watch over my family. I knew I would regret sleeping on the couch later, but right now I was just happy to see my children breathing regularly, the little ones purring in content as they slept in their big brother's embrace.

Everything would be alright.

0

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0

"Faster! You must not give them anything! Do it again!" roared Sunstreaker, drilling his sons in the art of combat. My twin had given up paints long ago and replaced them with plasma.

Stargazer raced across the training room, gracefully dodging everything his younger brother threw at him. He was fast, a natural soldier, but Althiex was smarter. At the last moment, when I was sure the older of the two would bowl the younger over, he stepped aside and Stargazer instead smashed into the wall.

"Good. Always mind your surroundings."

Sunstreaker was gruff, but I knew he would have Stargazer up on the counter at home, carefully welding each and every abrasion and gently popping out all his dents.

"You're losing your focus old man!"

I turned back and blocked a punch from Bumblebee at the last second.

"Old? I'm only 200 vorns older than you!"

"Yeah, old!"

"I'm the same age as your girlfriend you dumbaft!"

"Oh yeah. But she's beautiful and you're ugly, just like you called your brother the other day."

Oh slag. I walked right into that one. Sunstreaker zeroed in on us like a Dread with an energon problem. His sons stepped back, knowing what was about to happen. I braced myself and suddenly a six ton brick slammed into me. I rolled, letting him gain the upper hand.

"You callin' me ugly, slagger?" he demanded. But I saw a glint in his optics and I nodded.

"Yeah, I am."

As one we turned on Bumblebee and buried him underneath us.

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Neither is using my brother to win!" I retorted, flicking his antennae. He glared at me, but laughed a few seconds later. Stargazer and Althiex joined us a few moments later, flinging themselves on their father.

"Alright, alright you two. Get off your father before you scratch his paint."

Moonracer appeared in the doorway, Nova and Kalis attached to her back and curiously peeking over her shoulders. They chirruped excitedly when they caught sight of their father. He got up, going over to coo at them.

"There's my girls, prettiest femmes in the whole galaxy."

Speaking of femmes, I saw Arcee hook her fingers in Bumblebee's chassis just outside the doorway and he obediently followed her back to her domicile. No doubt we wouldn't see them for several hours. Looking back at my brother, I saw that he too was lip-locked with his mate and I sighed.

"C'mon boys, let's go. I'm sure we can find somebody to watch the girls while we go racing."

"Yes!" cried Althiex, his brother bouncing excitedly next to him as I grabbed Nova and Kalis from their parents, who were oblivious to everyone but the other. I hurriedly rushed the children out of the room when it became apparent they weren't going anywhere and the situation was quickly turning from sucking face to horizontal tango. I made sure to post a sign outside.

"Hey Uncle Sides, why don't you have a femme?" asked Stargazer, staring curiously at me for his answer. Damn that kid for being deaf, not mute.

"I did have one once, a little after you were born, a long, long time ago. She died though."

"Well, why didn't you find a new girlfriend?"

"I loved her a lot Stargazer. Perhaps someday you'll know where I'm coming from."

"Girls are gross."

Yeah, I thought that too at your age. Just you wait until your interface kicks in kid; you won't believe there's anything better in the world than femmes. Unless you go for mechs, ofcourse. That would be interesting and highly entertaining to observe.

"Uncle Sides, Nova threw up again."

I looked down and sure enough, my oldest niece had indeed purged her tanks all over herself and my arm. I sighed.

"Alright then, take your sister and go hang out at the domicile. I'll be back in a few minutes, don't move from that room."

"But-"

"I'm serious Althiex. That's your little sister, it's your job to protect her."

"Yes sir."

"Good. Now go put some tar on Prowl's seat for me."

"YES SIR!"

They ran off, Stargazer carefully cradling Kalis against his shoulder as they did so. I turned back to Nova, who was staring up at me with watery optics.

"I know pretty thing. Being a sparkling sucks, don't it?"

She chirruped.

"Well, if we can get away with it, I'll give you a bath in the Med Bay. Ratchet's got the best soaps."

I crept along the hallway, slipped into the Med Bay without incident and settled at one of the enormous sinks in the prep room. I filled it with lukewarm water and plopped my niece among the suds. She squealed in delight and I went about scrubbing her clean. As I did so, I had faint memories of my mother, my real mother, doing the same when I was her age. I began to hum as I did so.

_Well you go where the lilies grow_

_And where the stars play_

_Where the ashes fall like snow_

_And there's a path to stray._

"Depressing song, huh? Mum used to sing it all the time after Dad left. 'Course he wasn't much of a dad anyway. Optimus was much nicer. You're lucky your dad isn't such a psycho anymore. That's probably because of your mama."

Kalis splashed in the water as I scrubbed my own arm clean, flicking soap at her every so often just to see her cute irritated expression.

_Give me light, give me fire_

_Give me silver, give me gold_

_Let me dance in Unicron's ire_

_Let me suffer till I'm old_

I scoffed, pulling the plug and wrapping Nova in a fluffy towel.

"There, all better huh?"

Nova warbled, smiling and patting my chest.

"Love you too squirt."

She patted harder, right where my voice box was.

"Oh, you want me to sing again?"

She nodded. I decided to indulge her and sang the last verse.

"The comets have circled for vorns and vorns

My child do stop crying, my spark is holding out just for you.

Long ago my tears have dried

Forever frozen in the sands of time."

She gave me a puzzled look with half-closed optics and I shrugged.

"Don't ask me, I don't know why the last verse doesn't rhyme either," I replied, to silence.

She had fallen asleep against my chest, purring softly as I made my way towards the domicile. The kids were passed out on the couch, Kalis quietly recharging on her oldest brother's chest and Althiex burrowed into his side, Stargazer's arms wrapped around them both. He opened one optic as I sat down in the chair across from him and smirked.

"What can you do, eh?" I said leaning back myself. I shuttered my optics and let my memories whisk me away.

'_**Brother, what do we do?'**_

'_**I don't know.'**_

'_**It is so dark.'**_

'_**I don't know.'**_

'_**Dark.'**_

'_**I don't know!'**_

'_**Make me some light.'**_

'_**Why must you complain so?'**_

'_**You are the younger one; you should do as I say.'**_

'_**Fine.'**_

_A light flared to life and I gasped when I saw the two mechs. There was Unicron, his horned helm unmistakable as he huddled next to his softly glowing brother. Their optics snapped up to look at me and I was lost in their star ridden gazes, Primus' deep blue, Unicron's burning red. Stars being born in one, dying in the other._

'_**Child,' **__Whispered Primus, beckoning me to come forward._

'_**A twin, like us,' **__agreed his brother._

'_**How is it that you are able to see us?'**_

'_**You are no Prime,' **__said Unicron, optics narrowed._

'_I don't know,' I replied back, answering despite my overwhelming fear._

'_**Curious. You must have Prime lineage somewhere in your DNA programming.'**_

'_**Fascinating,' **__Hissed Unicron, snatching me from his brother to inspect me with horrible, burning optics._

'_**Brother, it is forbidden.'**_

'_**I know that, fool. I only want to study him.'**_

'_**Let him go. I know it is you that have drawn him here.'**_

'_**Fine, fun-sucker.'**_

_Then I was gone, whisked away into the darkness. I fell for what must have been vorns, never seeing another being or the bottom. Many eons later, I slowed, coming to rest in a cloudy memory. I looked over and saw that I was in a basinet, Sunstreaker sleeping beside me. We were so tiny when we were born, barely big enough to live. But mother had not given up on us, and did her best to ensure we survived._

'_Brother.'_

_I saw that Sunstreaker's optics were open and he reached for me with a tiny hand._

'_Little brother?'_

'_Yes,' I replied, turning my head to the side. 'Is me.'_

'_No. You not you. Is wrong you.'_

_I just let him stare at me, too tired to explain myself. I didn't even wonder why I was here, it was such an insignificant memory._

_**Nay child. This is where you realize your brother is more important than anything.**_

_Shouting suddenly took up from another part of the house and I saw Sunstreaker's face curl in his familiar anxiety._

'_Mama.'_

_The shouting grew louder, closer and I wormed my way towards my frightened brother._

'_It's okay. I protect you.'_

_A huge form came into the room and loomed over us. I was shocked to see how much I resembled my spark father. Beside him hovered our mother, the only thing I had inherited from her were my optics. They were narrow and angular, like mine. Sunstreaker was an even mix of the two, with our father's face and mother's helm._

"_Two brats? What is wrong with you femme? We can barely feed ourselves! How are we supposed to feed them too?"_

"_They are your children Gamma, you should not care."_

"_Well I do, Kalista."_

_He reached for us and I cried out, pushing my brother away from his fierce grip. His hand tightened around my scruffbar and I wanted to wail, so I did._

"_Ack, noisy little thing. And the other one, he's ugly like you."_

_That was a lie! Mother had been beautiful._

"_Gamma, please. I'll get another job, we won't have to worry about it."_

_But my father continued his painful hold on my scruffbar and I could see my mother's heartbreaking face in the background. It made me struggle, trying to worm out of his grip._

"_Huh. Maybe he is not so worthless after all. The brother though…"_

_His grip slackened on my and I knew he was going to go for Sunny next, so I reared up and bit hard on his hand._

"_Argh!"_

_I was let go, and I cried out in surprise as I found myself falling through the air. At the last minute, my mother dove and caught me, skidding across the floor and slamming into the opposite wall with a jarring thud. Gamma stumbled back and leaned on the door frame._

"_That's it! I'm out of here! You won't have to worry about me, because I'm not coming back to you and your miserable brats again!"_

_I heard Sunny wail as our bond, however faint, was forcibly severed from our father._

'_Don't cry Sunny. Don't cry-"_

"Sideswipe!"

I shot up, my intakes heaving. Above me Moonracer was hovering worriedly.

"Are you alright? Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yeah," I murmured, sitting up. "You could say that. Where's Sunstreaker?"

"Outside with the boys. Why?"

"I need to talk to him."

I stood up and stumbled out the door, heading over to where Sunstreaker was watching his two oldest children wrestle. He saw me approach and met me halfway.

"What's wrong?"

"I had a dream."

"Ooookay? And?"

"And it was about our parents."

"Optimus and Elita? Is something wrong?"

"No, not them. Our creators."

"What?"

I immediately felt uncomfortable at his tone. His icy optics narrowed.

"Tell me."

"Do you remember our father?"

"No. Mom said he died in a mining accident."

'_No he didn't_,' I keened inside. He hated us.

"No he didn't. He didn't want us."

Shock dawned on his face and I felt guilt at revealing such a thing. Sunstreaker had always vehemently defended us against the other younglings who teased us for not having a dad when we were small.

"You're telling me he abandoned us? That it's his fault our mother…"

She had to take a job we hated to keep the domicile. She had gone missing while working. We had been alone long before our home was destroyed.

"Sunstreaker, I only told you because I thought it was important. They said it was important."

"Who?"

And I didn't dare say out loud what I had first dreamed of. Sunstreaker listened intently over our bond for a few seconds before his optics widened in disbelief.

_What do you mean Primus and Unicron?_

'I don't know, what the hell do you think it means?'

_Are you saying we could actually be related to Optimus and Elita?_

I felt panic run through him and saw his gaze shift to his children.

_Are my children in danger?_

I shook my head. 'No, I don't think so.'

_Then we never speak of this again. Ever._

I didn't answer for a moment and he shook me.

"Never."

Never.

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"Hey dad!"

I ignored Daniel for a moment, finishing up what I had been typing.

"Daaaad!"

I turned a moment later as he ran into the office.

"Yes Dan?"

"Can I go with Hot Rod today? Please, please, pleaaaase?"

I looked up, raising an eyebrow at him. His eyes were shockingly blue now, as my own have slowly turned to over the years. He didn't yet understand the immense burden that I had passed to him, and I was extremely protective of him since I had discovered this, and I was wary of letting him out of my sight.

"Does Optimus know?"

"Yes! Hot Rod comm.'d him from outside."

"Sam, let him go."

I turned to the soft voice of my wife and saw her beautiful face smiling. I gave in and nodded.

"Alright, but be back before sundown."

"Gotcha! Thank you!" he shouted over his shoulder, racing down the stairs with an excited whoop. I turned back to Carly and saw a worried expression on her face.

"What is it angel?"

"You're drawing runes all over your work again."

I looked down to see that I had indeed scrabbled ancient Cybertronian all over my documents in red ink. I sighed.

"Do you know what it means?"

I tapped one rune. "This one keeps showing up. It means shadow. Over and over again I keep seeing it, even when I dream."

"Why don't you talk to Optimus about it? Maybe you can find out what's up when you go to the Moonbase."

She came around the desk and stood between my legs, putting reassuring hands on my face.

"Don't worry. I trust you. I know you won't let anything happen to us."

She bent and rested her forehead against mine and I shut my eyes, breathing in the faint smell of cleaning fluid from the labs on her. She must have been helping Ratchet again. Beneath it though, was the stronger smell of sunflowers. I opened my eyes and they met her light blue ones for a split second and then I felt a sharp bolt of lightning shoot through my head.

Thousands of images flashed before me, runes circling in front of my eyes as they flew past.

A spear, shattering.

A beautiful city, a graceful silhouette against a fading sun.

Fire.

An enormous mech, who looked very much like Optimus, waving the spear from before and bending time.

And last, a planet being eaten by another.

"SAM!"

I jolted back, blinking suddenly as Carly shook me. In the faint blue light that my eyes emitted, her worried features were sharp and terrified.

"Wha-?"

"I don't know. I just-your face," she gasped. I felt my face and it was smooth, perfectly fine.

"What about it?"

She took hold of my arm, dragging me to the bathroom and planted me in front of the mirror. The face that stared back was a strange one. Burning blue eyes, identical to those of an Autobot, illuminated a face covered in black ruins. Lines of writing followed my bone structure, arching over my eyebrows and coming to a point on my cheekbones. A twisting pictograph, obviously the Matrix, was in the center of my forehead, just between my brows.

"Sam, you have to go see Optimus. Something could be wrong," said Carly, her eyes wide in awe and fear. But I didn't feel any of those, only curiosity as I reached out to touch my reflection. The mirror rippled underneath and suddenly I saw my younger self, smiling back and I tilted my head. My reflection followed.

"Oh my god!"

I ignored Carly, continuing to peer into the mirror. Behind me I saw a younger Carly, smiling too. Surprised, I turned and looked at the Carly behind me and saw that she had not changed. Turning back to the mirror, our past selves faces had become ones of fear and they pointed frantically behind us.

"Sam."

I turned away and met Carly's eyes. She slowly reached forward and grabbed my hand and held it with a death grip.

"What the hell was that?" I wondered out loud, looking at the now empty mirror.

"I don't know, I don't care, but we are going to see Optimus right now!" answered Carly, stamping her foot and leading me down the stairs.

"Bee, c'mon!"

He skidded around the side of the house and stopped in front of the porch. He opened his door and we climbed in.

"Sam, what are those on your face?" he asked through the radio. I shrugged.

"You tell me. We need to talk to Optimus."

Bumblebee sped up, hitting one-eighty as he raced down the road towards Autobot city. In less than ten minutes the immense gates loomed over us and Bumblebee let us out to walk. He shifted into bipedal mode and stayed by our side as we made our way to the towering command center. As I walked by, other Cybertronians stared and I knew I must be bad if I could get the impassive Thundercracker to gape.

The command center's doors slid open and everyone stopped to look at us. They continued to stare as we made our way to where Optimus stood with Prowl and Elita at his sides. His optics were wide with surprise and I began to panic. Maybe Carly had been right, maybe there was something wrong with me.

"Sam?" asked Elita as Bee set me and Carly down on the table.

"The one and only."

"Your eyes-"

"Yeah, I know. They've been blue for a while now, but they've never glowed. The tats are new though."

Optimus stayed silent, studying me with a seemingly ancient gaze. Then he looked up to face everyone else.

"If everyone would leave us alone for a moment. Prowl, please escort Carly to the Rec room please."

"Yes sir."

As everyone cleared away, even Elita filed out, Carly looked as if she was going to put a fight before she reluctantly climbed onto the tactician's hand and left. I turned back to Optimus.

"Is it that bad?"

"What did you see?"

I blanched. How could he possibly know that?

"Why-"

"What did you see, Samuel James Witwicky?"

Ah, serious Optimus time then.

"Y'know, stuff. Just a breaking spear, some city and I don't know, a _fucking cannibalistic planet_!" I ranted, my voice hysterically high as the prospect set over me. Optimus just nodded, rubbing his chin.

"That's all you're going to do? Sit and ponder the purpose for life? Look at my face! There is something wrong here!"

"Peace, Samuel. Give me a moment."

One moment later, exactly, he suddenly slid his chest open and removed the Matrix from his chest. It hovered in his hands and he leaned down to set it one the table. It hummed softly, glowing periodically like a heartbeat. I walked over in a daze and set my hand on it. It flared green and the last thing I saw was Optimus' face cringed in pain, and realization that his hand too, was on the Matrix.

Then, nothing.

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Cliffhanger! Haven't done one of those in a while. Since things have been pretty la te da in the story lately, except for the last few chapters, I thought we'd have a little excitement.

PLEASE REVIEW! And thanks for all your wonderful comments!


	25. InBetween

_Chapter 25_

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"_For what is truly wondrous and fearful in man, never yet was put into words or books." _

_~ Herman Melville_

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_A/N: And just recently I have learned that the daughter of my parent's friends has died after a long battle with brain cancer. She was only nine, and I dedicate this entire story to her because no one had a heart full of such unconditional love as she did._

_We love you Courtney._

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I opened my optics to the strange inbetween the Matrix often was. The sky flew by overhead, constantly changing between night and day, cloudy and sunny, Earth and Cybertron. I managed to pick myself up off the ground and look around, I was surprised to see Sam lying a few feet away, eyes closed. I went over and knelt, gently prodding him with a finger.

"Sam?"

He groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. When his hand came away, I stepped back in surprise to see his new tattoos glowing soft blue in sync with his eyes that pulsed every time my sensors detected his heartbeat. He stood up, paying me no mind and looked around with confused recognition.

"I've been here before…back in Egypt. Place hasn't changed much, it's still trippy as hell."

"This is the…inside you would call it, of the Matrix of Leadership. It's supposed to be strange."

"Whatever man," he grumbled, sounding like the teen I had first met instead of the thirty-five year old man before me. He looked back at me after he had studied the landscape for a few moments.

"Where are all the big dudes?"

"Excuse me?"

"Last time I was here, a bunch of enormous Cybertronians were talking to me. Telling me how they had been watching me for a long time and all that mojo."

"The Primes talked to you?" I asked, bewildered. He had never told me any of this.

"Yeah, and Optimus, I hate to tell you this, but you got the short gene in the family."

"They were the thirteen, I'm just a descendent. We had to downsize over time as there were more of us. And I am not short."

"Hit a nerve did I? I never would have pegged you for being sensitive about your height. I mean, you're Jolly Green Giant status on Earth."

I began walked towards the mountains in the distance, and motioned for Sam to follow.

"I was small as a youngling, not quite to the extent of Bumblebee, but shorter than most. I was convinced I would never be tall enough to be Prime."

"Bah, you would have been an awesome short Prime. Although, Megatron probably wouldn't take you as seriously."

"Thank you Sam…I think. But that is not true. Being Prime is not just an intellectual role. It is a bloodline. Sentinel was older than Megatron or I, so the role naturally fell to him after his father, the older brother of my own father, died. Megatron had been stripped of his Prime title sometime before Sentinel's death, and it fell to me after that. If not for that, then I would most likely be dead, killed so as not to pose a threat to Megatron's status. That is part of why he hates me so," I explained, sadness and a small bit of weariness permeating my tone as I explained my home world's intricate inner workings.

"I didn't know that Megatron was older than you."

I looked at him in shock. "Why would you think he is younger than me?"

"No offense, but you've never exactly seemed like a younger guy Optimus. You've always been more the 'perfect older-brother' type while Megatron is more the cracked-out, highschool drop out."

"He is, in fact, nearly three thousand vorns my senior. If we were human, I would be around thirty-eight in terms of physical assessment. He would be sixty-two."

"That's messed up. How old was your dad?"

"I don't know. I've only met him twice."

"Twice? You guys make Jerry Springer look bad."

I cocked my head, unsure as to what he was referencing. He caught my look and shook his head.

"Never mind, let's just focus on…what exactly are we here for?"

"Again, I do not know Sam. Sometimes the Matrix is...temperamental."

"Great, first my brain goes AWOL and now the Matrix has PMS. If I wanted to deal with that, I would have stayed home!"

"Perhaps, I can help with that."

That voice…it couldn't be. I turned and saw Sentinel, his deep blue optics twinkling as he smiled down at me.

"Well don't be shy, give me a hug."

I rushed forward, slamming into him with a tremendous crash. He stumbled back, but wrapped his arms around me all the same.

"I missed you too Optimus," he murmured, patting my helm as he had done so long ago when he would come home from a mission. He stood back from me a moment later and kept his hands on my shoulders.

"Let me look at you. Slag you got big. And is that another engraving on your face? What did I tell yo-oh," he broke off, reading what the name said on the part of my helm that ran along my jaw line. Then he smiled a wicked smile, a trait that must be a Prime thing since Megatron did the exact same thing, and I knew teasing was imminent.

"So you _did _bond with that femme, eh? Boy do you owe me or what? Guess all those tips helped," he crowed, laughing at my mortified expression. "Elita One, my, my…a fine piece of-"

"That is the mother of my children, Sentinel, big brother or not, I'd watch my mouth if I were you," I growled, knowing he was only doing it to get a rise out of me. His grin grew even wider.

"Kids huh? How many?"

"Three. Rodimus, Skyrider…and Sentinel."

His face softened at this and I wished he could meet his namesake just once.

"Hellooooo! I'm still down here!"

We snapped towards Sam as one, and I felt a little bad for forgetting he was there.

"My apologizes. Sam, this is Sentinel. The real Sentinel, my older brother."

"Hiya," said Sam waving at my brother. "You can call me Sam."

Sentinel, however, said nothing as he knelt down to study him with curious optics. His optic ridges knitted together as if he was trying to remember something.

"I have heard your name before, Samuel James Witwicky. But I have also seen your face, from many, many years ago."

"He was there when you were resurrected," I reminded him, my smile morphing into a scowl.

"Ah yes, that too. But even before that, I knew your face…"

"I saw you too. You were one of the guys who talked to me after Optimus died."

His optics flew wide open at this and he turned to me.

"You died? How?"

I gave him a puzzled look. How could he not know? He had been the one who had forced me to hang on while I drifted in the dark. Sam answered him anyway.

"Megatron used him as a shish-kabob."

"Um, bless you? That is the correct response to a sneeze, yes?" inquired Sentinel, looking to me with confusion.

I shook my head at the two of them. Then I tapped the spot on my chest where, despite the CR chamber and Ratchet's expertise, a faint starburst scar remained.

"He stabbed me."

Sentinel suddenly shifted to the stony-faced warrior I had respected so when I was younger.

"He's dead now though," I replied, even though I did not believe it myself. Sentinel did not answer, but simply grasped at his own chest where I could see a gaping wound, surprised that I had not noticed it before.

"I warned him. I told him that if he tried to kill you, an undeserving victim, his vengeance would be wrought upon himself threefold. He didn't listen."

"Whoa," said Sam, watching the exchange. "His wound is exactly where yours is Optimus. That can't be coincidence."

"It's not," answered Sentinel, scowling. "That is how Megatron kills those he takes a special interest in."

The sky overhead suddenly stopped and I felt my wires fray as a darkness descended upon us. Sentinel began to flicker as the sky rumbled, lightning flashing across it.

"Don't trust him Optimus!" he shouted over the roar of thunder.

"Who?" I shouted back as his image was swept away by the wind.

"Don't trust him!"

And he was gone, whisked away on the wind. Sam stood in shock, staring above us. I followed his gaze to see none other than my own father descending from the clouds in a very, if overly, dramatic fashion.

"Be still Sam, it's only my father."

"Your father? Okay, this just keeps getting weirder."

He didn't know the half of it. Vector Prime touched down in front of us and clutched in his hand was the Spear of Balance, tarnished and covered in numerous welds, a shadow of its former glory the last time I had seen it.

"Optimus," he rumbled, the ground jolting as his feet touched.

"Father."

His gaze, burning red hot, turned to Sam and I saw him flinch slightly.

"Samuel."

I saw confusion running across Sam's face and I knew what he was seeing. The resemblance was extraordinary. I greatly took after my mother in terms of looks, but Megatron was our father's image, the only thing missing were the wing-like appendages on his back and the helm, which reflected mine.

"Your dad's a Decepticon?" he asked, and I was hurt by the look of betrayal in his eyes.

"Nay, young human, I am older than he. My foolish youngest brother."

"So, what's your name, Mr. Red Eyes?" demanded Sam, crossing his arms and I snickered at my father's surprised expression.

"I am Vector Prime, Lord of Time and Space, Mr. Samuel James "Spike" Witwicky."

Sam's face blazed a brilliant scarlet and I could only guess at what implications the name Spike meant. My father's gaze then turned on me and I stared hard into his fiery cat-like optics.

"I would expect you to keep more polite company, Optimus."

"And I would expect you to not pry into my life, when you have no right to."

"Don't be a child. You're here for a reason, you both are. But that can wait for a moment. Sam, I wish to talk with you, come, and let us go somewhere not quite so…trippy."

I scowled as he waved his spear, and the image around us spun, stretching me in impossible directions until we straightened out and were instead perched on top of a cliff high in the clouds. Above us one of Cybertron's moons, VsQs, was layered over Earth's own. Billions of stars winked at us, illuminating us with harsh white light, making my father's angular features, coupled with his enormous stature, all the more intimidating.

"Now, young Samuel, has my son here explained just what it means now that you hold the power of the Allspark?"

"Somewhat, yeah. And I'm not young. I'm old, my kid says so."

"Children have a way of doing that, until they're your age and then they understand. But fear not Sam, you will live on much longer than most, so you will not be old for many years."

I saw him blanch and he looked back at my father with fierce blue eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean? Does that mean I'm going to have to watch everyone I care about die?"

"Not everyone. You will have your son."

"And my wife? What about Carly?"

I saw my father's optics squint with the slightest bit of pity before he answered.

"I am afraid not, Samuel. A necessary sacrifice."

The tattoos pulsed across Sam's skin, and his eyes became speckled with fiery gold.

"You all talk about sacrifice like it's a small thing. It's not! And don't tell me that my wife is unnecessary for me to live! She's so goddamned necessary that you'd better fix the situation or I will, permanently!" he roared, jabbing a finger at Vector, blue tendrils of electricity crackling around him.

"No sacrifice, no victory. You are a Prime, young Samuel, and it is time you started acting as one," he rumbled back, the very air bending around him in his own display of power.

"What?" asked Sam, his voice strangled with surprise. He looked over at me and I could only give him a surprised expression of my own.

"Have you told him nothing?" exclaimed Vector, throwing up his hands. Seeing my expression however, he narrowed his optics.

"They didn't tell you either, did they? Damned fools. Just because I'm the fifth brother… no one listens to the middle child!" he complained, waving his fist at the sky. Then he sighed and settled back against a boulder.

"So, you gonna explain this or what?" demanded Sam, his arms crossed again.

"Yes, I am. I was only trying to decide how best to tell you of this. And first I will tell you this: do not thing you are a Prime because of the Allspark. Power is not everything. The title of Prime is earned. Megatron thought he was above that, and was stripped of his title by us for murdering Alpha and Optimus' mother for his own gain. You, young Samuel, earned your title during the fight with my lost brother. You fought for Optimus, our last descendent at the time. You fought for justice, and for what is right. The Matrix's acceptance of you is all the proof you need."

We were silent after this revelation, Sam resting his chin on his knees and deep in thought.

"And my son?" he asked, worry evident in his voice. "What about Daniel?"

"His time will come. His power has not yet fully awakened. But your children on the other hand," he said, looking over at me, "Are a different story."

"How so?" I replied, my own spark laced with worry.

"Your eldest, Rodimus, is nearing a time where he will have to make a choice. When that time comes you must not interfere, but instead do you duty as a parent and support what he does. He holds the fate of our people in his hands Optimus, teach him well."

This deeply troubled me. I did not want such burden to be placed on any of my children, least of all the one I thought I had lost.

"And your twins will too, have their time, but not before Daniel. He will be key in the choice your son makes, Optimus. Sam, you too must teach your son well. You cannot allow them to be tainted by their own insecurities."

I suddenly got the feeling he was going to leave soon and I fixed him with my most menacing glare, the one I would reserve for Skyrider's future admirers.

"Don't even think about it. You're staying right there until you fully explain yourself."

"Oh, but I have Optimus. You already know what is going to happen, you have dreamt it. I just filled in the missing pieces."

And in a flash, he was gone. I growled in frustration.

"Optimus, your dad is a pain in the ass."

"Tell me about it," I grumbled.

000

I opened my optics to the concerned face of my sparkmate, her optic ridges fraught with worry. I blearily looked around and saw that I was still standing in the control center, my hand still on the Matrix.

"Are you alright?"

I nodded slowly, and then shook my head as I felt the familiar wave of nausea sweep over me. Elita immediately produced a waste receptacle and held it for me while a purged my tanks. She patted my back, murmuring soft words of comfort.

"There, all better?"

I stood up this time and felt my waste tank realign itself. It hummed, almost as if it was annoyed with me. Then I remembered Sam and looked around for him. He lay unconscious on the table, his hand still clutched tightly around the Matrix.

"You've both been offline for days! Carly's worried sick!"

"Patience Elita, he'll wake soon."

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"OPTIMUS!"

I had been screaming for almost half an hour, but it was no use. The big guy was gone and I was all alone in this nightmare straight out of Wayne's World. Not only was it constantly shifting from night to day, but it would rain periodically ever ten minutes and I had yet to dry off.

"No good, dirty rotten, pig-stealing great-great grandfather!" I cursed, kicking a stone. Where the hell did _that _come from? I didn't pay it too much time as the sky darkened again and I knew someone else with hoodoo powers was going to visit me soon. Low an behold, the clouds opened up to reveal another mech.

"So are you Grumpy or Dopey?" I screamed, too irritated to be scared of this mech. He wasn't as bulky as Sentinel or Vector Prime, but more sinewy and his armor was more a mix of fierce angles and smooth flexibility. He glowed like a super nova, his optics glowing white-hot.

"I am not either. I am Prima, eldest of my siblings. I died long before my other brothers in combat with Unicron. And I consider myself Grumpy only when I cannot recharge," he boomed, heat radiating from him like a blast furnace.

I could admit I already liked him a lot better than his brothers. I winced from the heat though and he took the hint, stepping back a few feet.

"I apologize. I have forgotten how fragile your species is. Let me tone this down."

A few seconds later the supernova effect was gone and he stood before me in still glowing armor, although it was now softly illuminated silver instead of the harsh white from before.

"Dude, you have one hell of a family problem."

"Thank you. Did you figure that out all by yourself? What gave it away? The evil little brother or the fact that Megatron had the gall to murder Alpha in his name? Or maybe, just maybe, it's the fact that a Civil War has been ravaging my home for millions of your years?" he replied, growing louder as he went on.

"Alright, alright, calm down," I said, holding up my hands. "I'm a little irritated is all. I just was to go home."

"Well so do I, join the club."

"Listen here Pissy Penny-"I began, already tired of bitchitude.

"Or what, Whiney Wendy?"

"I'll fry your ass, douchebag," I said, knowing my eyes flashed a dangerous blue. His own white optics widened at this display and he backed down.

"How curious. You are the new vessel of the Allspark the other spoke of. I would never have imagined it would have affected you so."

I was surprised at that.

"What do you mean?"

"The power of the cube is now ingrained in your system, Samuel. That should not have happened…unless, you were the one who revived Optimus?"

"I was. But what has that got to do with the Allspark?"

"The Matrix can indeed revive those who are in deep stasis, and severely low of energon, but it cannot bring back the dead. It is forbidden. The Allspark however…"

"Are you saying I brought back Optimus, not the Matrix?" I replied, breathless.

"Yes," he breathed, kneeling to study me. "You must be a worthy Prime indeed to be allowed to wield such power."

I looked down at my hands and saw my veins pulsing under my skin, bright blue. Power thrummed through me and vast amounts of mathematics that my own species was thousands of years from discovering flashed through my mind. It suddenly hit me.

"I'm not the vessel, am I? I'm actually the Allspark."

"Yes," replied Prima. "You have the power to heal my kind Sam. You wield the powers of a god. I am here to test if you are able to handle that responsibility."

"What's that supposed to mean? You want me to raise Fluffy from the dead or something?"

"No Sam. The Allspark has much greater power than simply raising the dead. You have the laws of physics quite literally, in the palms of your hands."

I shook my head, scrunching my face up and putting my hands over my ears like I had done as a child. I knew I was being immature, but I had not asked for this. I did not want the powers I now had.

"Sam."

The voice was so soft, I had to open my eyes to make sure I hadn't died and an angel was here to take me. Next to Prima stood a femme, more beautiful even than Elita and that was hard to imagine. Maybe it was her expression, so full of love and gentleness that made her so. She was a soft blue, like the sky, and she knelt down to gently brush a finger against my cheek, wiping away my frustrated tears.

"Shhh, it's alright," she cooed, and I leaned into her touch, feeling Carly through her. "Samuel, I know this is hard, but you are so brave."

She picked me up then, cradling me gently in her hands. This femme radiated a tenderness that made me feel safe, as if my mother was holding me when I was small. I saw that Prima's stern expression had softened as well and the femme smiled at me.

"My name is Ailita, the first of the house of Femmax. I am here to take you home."

"But-!" protested Prima, who quickly grew quiet when Ailita raised her hand. It suddenly struck me who the two reminded me off and I smiled.

"Optimus and Elita will never believe this…"

They turned to me and I saw the same expression on their faces that both the commanders gave me when they were about to lecture me.

"We are Optimus and Elita," replied Prima. "The name Elita has slightly evolved over the years, such as Elita One's did, but it has never strayed far from my mate's name. Optimus and Elita are just our most recent incarnation. The dynasty of Prime and the house of Femmax have always been intertwined."

"And you're telling me because? I mean, it's very interesting and all, but I don't see how it concerns me."

"And who do you think Carly is? I had a descendent once, named Cardea, as Primus had one. You know him actually."

"Are you saying I'm supposed to be Sentinel Prime reincarnated?"

"Think of what your name means Sam."

Samuel. Origin: Hebrew. Meaning: God's heart. I felt my eyes widen as the information flowed from the Allspark into my brain. James. Origin: Hebrew. Meaning: he who supplants. Supplants: to take place by force. I had taken a god's heart. I felt my hands move to my chest to feel the constant thrum underneath and looked up at Prima and Ailita.

"You have a spark Sam. A small one mind you, but a spark none the less. We are not immortal, but in the eyes of a human, we have the gift of unlimited life. Your heart had stopped, so the Allspark gave you a new one."

And then everything went black.

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The suspense!

Oh, and I thought I would put this in just for fun. You know the voices for Optimus, Jazz, Ratchet, Elita and Chromia from G1, but I thought I'd tell you who I think of when I write the others. Try imagining their voices when these characters speak.

Ironhide: a mix between his G1 voice and the character of Bobby Singer from Supernatural. When he means serious business, he takes the more formal tone of Clint Eastwood.

Prowl: Surprisingly, I hear him as Roy Mustang from Full Metal Alchemist, strange, I know.

Rodimus: He's Terry McGinnis from Batman Beyond. No argument.

Sunstreaker: No one in particular, I just imagine him being a feisty kid from Brooklyn. More Harrison Ford with his attitude. He's a wise ass, just like his brother.

Sideswipe: the brother who hung out more in the Bronx. There _is_ a difference in accent. More towards the direction of Kid Flash from Young Justice attitude wise.

Arcee: Frenchie from Grease. She's always had that ridiculous accent, even in Animated!

Bumblebee: He was a hard one, since I was so used to him using the radio. I always imagined him as soft-spoken and making every word count. Hence, I chose Val Kilmer, the man who plays Moses in the Prince of Egypt, and rather hilariously, K.I.T.T. in the 2008 Knight Rider series.

Moonracer: an incredibly gentle-voiced person, I couldn't find a specific character, but mixed together a young Julie Andrews and the woman who played Fire Lady Ursa.

Wheeljack: If he was more stoner, I'd say Pedro, but strangely enough, I hear Antonio Banderas for some reason. It must be the flare, because I've never thought of Wheeljack as a calm person.

Alpha Trion: Definitely Corey Burton. I love his old man voices.

Perceptor: Hermione Granger as a man. That's all there is to it.

First Aid: a panicky paramedic trainee type. Maybe Jack DeSana?

Sentinel: Keith David. Imagine Goliath (Gargoyles) with a little bit of smart ass John Connor thrown in.

Vector Prime: James Earl Jones.

And last, but definitely not least:

Primus: Liam Neeson. Like he was as Aslan, in a way that he sounds almost tired of fighting.

Unicron: Who do you think? Orson Welles himself.

I'm sorry for ranting, but I thought it would help out =] I know it's late, but better late then never.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	26. More Than Blood

_Chapter 26_

"_The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof." _

_~ Richard Bach_

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It had been days since I had shared a vision with Sam, but he had yet to talk to me about it. He had instead woken up, and embraced Carly, tears running down his face as he sobbed incoherent things in her ear. I had let them be, knowing a private moment when I saw one, and had gone back to where Elita was waiting. Now I sat outside on mine and Elita's balcony, watching as the sky slowly faded from sunset orange to midnight blue. Footsteps had me looking behind me to see Rodimus.

He said nothing as he took his place beside me, but instead watched as the last few members of our still small community rounded up younglings and told each other goodnight. On the wall around our city I saw Prowl take up his guard post, as he did every night, and salute me from where he stood. I saluted back with a smile, earning me one in return.

"Dad, how do you do it?"

I turned to my son. "Do what?"

"I mean, how do you do it? You have so many lives to protect, so much responsibility. I want to protect them all, but I do not think I can do it."

His blue optics were dark with worry and his face held the same anxious expression Elita had when faced with a difficult task. He was afraid he would not be able to handle the mantle of Prime.

"Rodimus," I said, using his full name to let him know I was serious, "You will not have to assume that responsibility for many years, I promise, but when you do you only need to know two things. One, trust your spark. That is what I was taught, and Sentinel was taught before me. You will know what is right. Two, know that your family is not just your mother and I and the twins. You are a Prime. Our entire race is your family. Think of them as such, and you will have no problem defending them."

He was quiet for a long while, and I knew he was thinking it over deep within his processor.

"But Alpha Trion taught me that the Prime Dynasty was to be preserved no matter the cost. He said the bloodline cannot fade."

I sighed, leaning over the railing and catching Sunstreaker in a rare moment of public tenderness with his sons as he scooped them both up in his arms from where they had fallen asleep as they played, and brought them inside to an open-armed Moonracer. I pointed them out to Rodimus.

"See, what Alpha Trion fails to understand is that Primes are not born, Rodimus. They are made. True, our family is much closer to Primus than most, but someday, one of Sunstreaker's grandchildren may take the mantle. I raised the twins with Elita as my own after we lost you. They have just as much right as you to assume the title of Prime. But they won't. Our people still see the Prime name as a mystic one, one that has always been associated with power and wisdom. We bear a heavy burden, my son, with our name. There is such a case long ago, after the Thirteen had become Twelve and the brothers decided that they needed a calmer persona among them to keep them on the right path.

So, they brought into their family a femme, the first of her kind, and named her Solus. She would be the exact opposite of what they had wanted, a fiery and stubborn femme, and a gifted weapons crafter. But she was also gentle and kind. She would go on to become Prime and reign during one of the most peaceful and prosperous ages Cybertron has ever seen. She would go on to mate with a mech named Antares and their children would have children until Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were born."

Rodimus' optics widened with surprise and he looked down at their now dark domicile, questions burning in his spark. I nodded.

"Wow," he breathed.

"See how strange family can be? I took them in without knowing this, and who would know that after all those generations that the last descendents of one of our greatest Primes would end up under my roof? They had just as much right as any of us to take the mantle, but I hid them instead. Not even your mother knows now, but I suspect that Sideswipe does. He was always smart like that. But not once have they ever wanted what was rightfully theirs. It will fall to you to respect their wishes one day, Rodimus. They are family, as are their children. They are just one example of how our whole race is entwined."

"Like Bumblebee is Ironhide and Chromia's son?"

"Exactly."

Rodimus nodded this time and then looked back up at me with something akin to, and I was surprised to see, awe. He then rushed forward, wrapping his arms around me in a crushing embrace. I grunted in surprise, but returned the gesture with an equally tight embrace.

"I missed you dad," he murmured, holding me tight. I looked down at him with a confused expression.

"What do you mean Rodimus?"

"You were out for three days holding on to the Matrix. I was lonely."

"You had your mother, though, and the twins."

"Yeah, but it's not the same. You're my dad. I've never had one before. Mama is great, because I was never around femmes when I was small, but I was around Alpha Trion. And I always wondered why he pushed my spark away, and I was jealous of the other mechs my age that had dads that would swing them up on their shoulders and would pick them up when they fell down."

"Well, you're a little big to be riding around on my shoulders, but I can promise you that I'll always be there for you, whether you want me to or not," I replied, rubbing his helm just behind his antennae, the spot that made him purr like his younger siblings.

"I will always want you there Dad. I promise."

And we watched the sky for the rest of the night, quiet and comfortable. I must have fallen asleep at some point, because I woke up to find Rodimus sprawled out on the bench beside me, snoring softly and covered with a thermal blanket. I too was covered in one as I maneuvered myself out of the chair I had been recharging in. Elita must have come looking for us. I went over and heaved Rodimus into my arms, grunting at how heavy he was getting. He would soon be able to pick me up at this rate. I walked inside and set him down on his recharge berth. Giving his helm one more affectionate rub, I checked on the twins, both soundly recharging, and went to my own berth where Elita was curled up under my thermal blanket.

"Glad to see you could make it dear," she murmured as I eased myself under the blanket next to her, curling around her so her head rested on my shoulder.

"That sounded a little sarcastic, my love," I whispered back, nuzzling her neck. She giggled softly from my kisses and gently tapped my nose for assuming such things.

"Only a small bit. I was just mad that my space heater wasn't here yet."

"Glad to be of use to you," I grumbled. She laughed again, a soft, wonderful laugh that I hadn't heard before the twins had been born. Elita made a beautiful mother. I laced my fingers with hers and shuttered my optics.

"Goodnight love," she whispered, pressing a kiss to my forehead.

_Elita._

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I couldn't recharge tonight.

Chromia kept tossing and turning fitfully as she slept, constantly throwing off the thermal blanket and then pulling it back up again. I hope she wasn't getting sick. I decided I would have a better chance on the couch and went to deposit myself there only to find Bumblebee fast asleep on it. I went to his room, with the slightest hope I could fit my bulky frame on his berth and lo and behold, there lay Argent and Mellara, curled together on their guardian's spot. I sighed and resigned myself to pushing their berths together and laying on them, my arms and legs hanging off to touch the floor.

Typical. I'm the Primus damned Weapon's Master to the Prime and here I was, forced to recharge on two child's berths while my femme and my son hogged the good ones. Such is life I suppose.

"Ironhide, what are you doing in here?"

I looked up to see Chromia and let my head hang over the side again. "I couldn't sleep, so I went ta the couch and Bumblebee was thar because the girls were on his berth."

"I'm sorry," she said, coming over to put her hands on either side of my face. "I think I'm getting a virus."

But despite my earlier suspicions, I didn't think so. She had been complaining of being hot all the time for days. Days after we had spark-bonded…well damn me if I hadn't seen that coming. I groaned again and just lay there.

"C'mon now, let's get you back in our berth. I'll try not to be so squirmy."

"It's alrigh' Mia. I know it's not your fault."

"I'm pregnant Hide."

"Ah know. I ain't stupid ya know."

She laughed and helped me up. "I know that. You're the smartest mech I know."

"Smart enough ta know that's a lie."

She laughed again and looped her arm around my waist as we made our way back to our room. I lay down and let her rest her head on my chest, and we stayed that way for a few moments as I stroked her back.

"I was thinking about names. Wouldn't it be wonderful to let Bumblebee name him?"

"Him?"

"It's a mech, I know it."

"But what if it's a femme?"

"I know it's a mech, trust me."

I rolled my optics. Trust something like this to turn into a competition with her. "Yer on," I said, indulging her. "But yes, I'm fine with Bumblebee namin' tha sparkling."

"Good."

"Now, is there any chance-?"

"No," she said, cutting me off. "It's your fault I'm all hot and uncomfortable in the first place. You brought this on yourself."

"Not even a little?"

"No Hide!"

I accepted defeat and backed down, closing my optics. "It'll be funneh ta see Prime's face tomorrow."

I could feel her smirk against my chest. "The spawn of two trigger happy old schoolers? Poor Ratch, he'll be devastated."

We snickered, imagining what everyone would say. "Aw, we didn't do so bad with Bumblebee," I protested. "He turned out jus' fine, considering."

"I don't know Hide. He's more of a risk-taker than I would want him to be."

I rolled my optics. "That's because yer his mother. It's yer job ta not want him to be wild."

"That's not true! You feel the same way and you know it!"

She was right, of course. But I wasn't going to admit that. I just grumbled and rolled over, gently sliding her onto the berth. She settled beside me and curled up. She was indeed hot; several Kelvin above normal, and it wasn't that that made me uncomfortable. It was the nature of the heat that made me nervous. It radiated out in inconsistent pulses, and my spark fluttered strangely every time it did.

I lulled me though, and I fell into a deep sleep a few moments later.

000

"Sunny, is something wrong?" asked Moonracer, rocking one our daughters as she softly hummed a lullaby. Her voice was still so gentle and beautiful, even after all the years she must have screamed after I left.

"No, I'm fine."

"Sunstreaker, please don't lie to me."

I turned to her and went over to stand in front of her. In her arms Kalis clicked softly, her blue optics shuttering drowsily as she dozed off. I put a hand on her head and she finally went into recharge, her tiny engine revving as she slept.

"It's nothing Racer. Sideswipe was just being weird again."

"Sunstreaker, you know better than to ignore Sideswipe."

I took Kalis from her and laid her down next to her twin, quietly sleeping in the crib across from our berth.

"I know. It's just…he's been acting so strange lately."

"He misses her. Especially since Thundercracker's niece looks so much like her. He's lonely."

"But he shouldn't be! He's got me!" I retorted.

"Yes, he does, and you're _all _he's got. You've got me and our children. I think he feels left out sometimes."

I sighed and rubbed my helm. Family was such a headache sometimes. Moonracer came over and put her hands on my shoulders, still softly humming.

"Just go talk to him," she whispered. I bent down and rested my forehead on hers.

"I love you."

"I love you too, but that's not going to get you anything until you go talk to Sideswipe."

"Fine."

To show her I wasn't really angry, I kissed her before going out of our room and walking down the hall until I came to Sideswipe's door. I opened up my bond to let him know I was there and I felt a surge of utter despair come from inside.

"**Brother-mine," **I whispered, the Cybertronian easily coming out. I heard him shift inside the room and he opened the door a few klicks later.

"Sunny?"

"Who were you expecting?"

He smiled softly and invited me in. I wandered into his room, feeling like an outsider. How had we drifted so far apart? I used to know everything about my brother, now I didn't even know the meaning behind the holographic images on his wall.

"What do you want Sunny?"

"To talk."

"About things. You know, past and present and future kind of things."

"Speak plainly."

I smiled on the inside. He had been watching too many human movies.

"Sideswipe, about what you said earlier…I'm sorry. I overreacted. I've been a bad older brother."

"You're a great brother-"

"No," I said, looking away. "I've never been the older brother I should have been. I've always been selfish. I'm arrogant."

"Sunny, you're only older by a few klicks," said Sideswipe, smiling exasperatedly. "And I know why you act the way you do. You're my twin. You'll always be my brother."

I held up my hand, palm out. He reached back, his fingers perfectly matched to mine. Our other hands did the same thing.

"**Brother-mine."**

"**Brother-mine."**

"**Never let you go."**

"**Always got your back."**

"**Forever," **we finished together, completing the words we had whispered every night well into our adult life, even after Moonracer was in the picture.

I smiled and he smiled back, gripping my hands tight once, and then letting go. Satisfied that we could talk now, I looked around at the images he had projected on his walls.

"So, want to tell me about the artist kick?"

"What, you think you're the only artistic one in the family?" he teased. He pulled a small cylinder out of his subspace and placed it on the floor.

"Watch."

He bent and pressed a button on its side and for an astro-second, nothing happened. Then in clicked and spread apart into a strange, silvery sculpture. I grinned half-heartedly.

"Um, nice?"

"Wait for it."

And suddenly, it lit up, the middle pulsing like a tiny sun. shadows were cast by the strange twists and curves of the sculpture and I looked up to see stories played out in the light.

"Sides…" I gasped, gaping at the dancing figures. "How did you-?"

"It's all about angles and reflection. Wheeljack taught me a long time ago."

One scene in particular caught my eye and I walked over to see to small figures, arms slung over each other's shoulders and staring up at a star moving across the sky.

"Is that us? Way back when that comet was passing over Cybertron?"

"Yep."

"Sides, that was almost a thousand vorns ago."

"I know, we're gettin' old aren't we?"

I remembered that orn vaguely. I had been so upset with Optimus and Elita that particular evening. They had refused to let us stay up to see the comet. Their argument was the standard 'do as I say, not as I do' as they went out the door to watch it themselves. Pfft, adults. Anyway, I had of course thrown a fit and Sideswipe had been the one to peel me off the door and we had quickly formulated a plan to see it. You see, if you pressed on our washroom window just right, it would open even though it wasn't supposed to with how high Optimus and Elita's quarters were. We could only reach it by standing on a stool and the stool was only big enough for two feet.

That didn't stop us. I leapt up first, my right foot hanging off and helped Sideswipe up. We linked together with a hand on each other's shoulder and opened the window. Needless to say, it was more amazing to me to watch it with my brother than to watch the comet itself. We were inseparable, two halves of the same spark.

"What happened?"I murmured, clutching at my chest where I could feel our bond.

"I got left behind. We were so close when Honor and I were dating, remember? We both had mates, I wasn't jealous anymore…but she died and it all fell apart. It's not your fault Sunny," he said, slowly slipping into sobs. "I was so jealous. Why did you have Moonracer and Stargazer and I have nothing? Why? I had never done anything to deserve less. Pit, you've done worse than me! But I was so hateful! You didn't love me anymore."

The light on the statue flickered when Sideswipe slid to the floor and buried his face in his arms. He had pulled his knees to him. I knelt down beside him and put my arms around him, doing what he had done for me countless times throughout our lifetime.

"Sides, you are my brother-mine. I will always love you, no matter what."

"But you don't. I can hardly feel you anymore Sunny. We promised to never let each other go."

It broke my spark to see his face curled in such anguish as he looked up at me. My little brother was the one who was broken this time, and this time it was my job to put him back together.

"I'll let you know a secret. I used to be jealous of you."

"Me? Why?"

"Because you never let anyone see your fear. You were always the one everyone wanted to be friends with, to talk to and to be with. But you never left me out, and I've repaid you with nothing but negligence. I'm sorry."

"Sunny?"

"Yeah?"

"It's okay. But now I've got physical evidence of you apologizing."

I smacked him. "I'm trying to have an emotional breakthrough and you're getting slag on me?" I shouted.

He smiled, truly smiled, and I couldn't help but smile back.

000

I woke with a jolt the next morning and found Bumblebee squished at the end of our berth, Mellara and Argent draped over him. I shook my head at them, wondering if things would ever change.

_Daddy, pick me up, pick me up!_

He had been so small then. It had terrified me every time he was out of my sight while he was young and even now I worried about him every time we went into battle.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?" murmured Chromia, nodding towards our son.

"Yeah. Seem like only yesterday tha' I was teachin' him how ta' put his armor on."

Our optics shifted to the two little femmes Bumblebee had taken guardianship of and I felt my spark beat just a little fast. I knew why my son had taken them in. The same reason Chromia had taken him home all those vorns a go. It wasn't because of pity, or sadness. They felt that they could change the life of someone; they felt they could give them a better life than the one they had had.

It made us wonder why exactly Bumblebee had adopted these sisters. I knew he did not want them to grow up in a war-torn world as he had. It broke my spark that I had to raise him the way I did. We had done our best with what we had, but I always thought we could do better. But other than the obvious reason, I wondered what could have caused him to act on such impulse.

I had asked Chromia once, why she had done it, and she hadn't answered me very quickly. She had sat on the couch for about half an orn, thinking. Then she looked up at me as I went by.

"Because he is my son," she had told me, her blue optics fierce. No other answer, just that simple statement. And I had looked over at a then sparkling Bumblebee, fast asleep in his makeshift crib next to the couch, and saw some of myself in him. It had amazed me how much he had come to look like us.

He had a proud jawline, like Chromia, pointed and aristocratic. High cheek plates like hers as well, making him extremely handsome in a world of frames adapted to function, not looks. But there was something in his optics, and I wasn't sure if it was the color, or the way they seemed to mirror my own expressions, but I saw myself in my son and it scared me. I wanted him to be as different as me as possible. I hadn't wanted him to be a soldier because he had to. Frag, by that point I would have let him be a politician for all I cared.

"Hide, don't worry. You did your best."

I turned to face her and put a hand on her abdomen.

"It will be different with this one. I want to raise a mech who can defend himself, but I do not want to raise a soldier," I said, my accent fading as it always did when I was especially serious.

"But Bumblebee-"

"Is a soldier," I cut in. The proof covered every inch of his frame, from small dents and paint scrapes to the contrast in metal where his legs had been blown off. And always, there was that thick silver scar stretching across his throat. It was my greatest reminder for how I had failed as a father.

"Dad?"

I jerked up, meeting Bumblebee's optics as he stared curiously at us. His doorwings were flared in greeting and his antennae were pricked in attention.

"Is something wrong?"

I couldn't help but indulge him with a smile. How had I been gifted with such a loving child?

"No Bee, everthin's fine."

He smiled and left the femmes at the end of the bed so he could come over and sit by Chromia. He leaned down and put his audio to her abdomen and listened, purring in wonder as he listened. We gave him an astonished look and he smiled apologetically at us.

"Sorry…It was kind of hard…to not…notice. I could feel…the flutter."

And suddenly I knew what that strange fluttering had been the night before. Chromia had always had a slight bond with Bumblebee, nowhere near as close if he had been of our sparks but still, and through the new spark, I could now feel Bumblebee. He had such a light spark, full of hope and the youthful earnestness he had always possessed. Underneath it though, I could sense a thread of darkness, and there was the primeval fear of being abandoned.

"Bumblebee…"

"It…is alright," he murmured, gathering up Argent and Mellara. "Let me…put them in bed. I'll be back…in a moment," he explained, his voice getting rougher as a tidal wave of emotions raced through him. I got up to go after him, but Chromia stopped me.

"Hide, let him figure it out. He'll come to us when he's ready."

And here I thought I would be the one who be the one that would be ready to let him go. I was so clingy sometimes.

"Ah know."

But as I waited for him to come back, and realized that he wasn't ready today when he didn't, I could only feel a strange sadness in me. That was my son, my little boy, teaching other younglings the skills he had been taught and taking care of his own charges. I could even see him stealing kisses with Arcee in the hallway, a huge, stupid and love-sick grin on his face every time he did so.

Maybe it was time to let go.

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A little bit of a short chapter, a little filler to keep you entertained. =]

Please review if you so feel inclined to do so.


	27. Protect

_Chapter 27_

"_Fate rarely calls upon us at a time of our choosing."_

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I fell.

It hurt so much. What hurt more was feeling Elita crumple in pain halfway across the city as she felt me fade. What hurt the most was the look of pure anguish on Rodimus' face as I hit the ground.

It's alright, I wanted to tell him. I forgive you.

It's not your fault.

**One Day Earlier, 07:00 EST:**

It was during a dream that I was informed that Alpha Trion was awake. The dream had been about the strange planet again, moving faster than any world I had seen before, always devouring the same planet over and over again as I watched its screaming inhabitants fade into oblivion.

"Optimus, sir, he is awake, but Ratchet says he's only at sixty-percent function," said Prowl, keeping pace beside me despite my obvious height advantage.

"Good. I don't need him with his wits about him. I've had enough of his bullslag stories."

"If I may sir-"

"You may."

"Why is it that you hate him so much? I understand that stole your son, but you have forgiven mechs for far worse."

A valid question and Prowl of all mechs was deserving of an answer.

"It was not only that, but what was caused because of his lies. Elita sank into a depression so deep that our bond completely faded away for almost ten vorns. She killed herself Prowl. I came home one day to find her standing on the railing of our balcony. I watched her turn around and smile, before she stepped forward and plummeted to her death."

He was silent and I turned to see his optics wide with horror. I turned away again, memories of that day flashing through my processor.

"Her frame was devastated, unrepairable. So I went to Alpha Trion and begged for her life, orn after orn until he agreed. He rebuilt her entirely to the frame that you see today, and erased her memories of dying. I abused my power and used the Matrix to revive her frame."

"Does she know?"

"Eventually she found out, but she has no actual memories of the incident."

"I'm sorry Optimus."

"Thank you Prowl."

Bringing up those memoires only made it harder as I stood in front of the doors to the Med Bay. This mech had caused so much suffering…but he had also given back one of the most precious people in my life. I intaked sharply and opened the doors to face my past.

He was lying on a table halfway through the room and I saw that it was First Aid who had been taking care of him. Ratchet lurked in the opposite corner, watching with cautious blue optics. There was such an overwhelming amount of guilt still rolling off of him that I could only give him a reassuring look before I fixed a cold stare on Alpha Trion.

"Ah, here to shoot me some more Optimus?" he demanded, frowning.

"Don't tempt me," I growled back, drawing my pistol. "I have some questions and you're going to answer them."

"After the way you two treated me? I don't think so."

"I think so. I'll let you live, but that doesn't mean I have to make you comfortable."

"See? Already you have changed since you took Rodimus with you. I warned you that he would be the end of you."

"Why are you so against my son?" I roared, softly pushing First Aid out of the way so I could get in Alpha Trion's face. I would not let him avoid my questions.

"He's going to get you killed!" he thundered back. "Every one of your children is another problem, another derailment from your job! Your duty as a Prime! Why do you think I was so resistant to repair Elita? She is just another distraction!"

His words crashed over me and I backed away in shock.

"You didn't take Rodimus to protect me- how did you hide his spark?"

"It's so simple to sever a bond before it's been properly established. I had to push you, to test you to see if you could work through a real tragedy. You failed."

"You killed my mate!"

"She killed _herself_! You failed to stop her. You weren't strong enough, just like your brother!"

The shock was replaced by rage at this last comment. I rushed him and hauled him up by his chassis. I shook him.

"Who are you really? You're not Alpha Trion…he would never-"

"Oh, but I am. I know exactly what you're thinking. He can't possibly be that old archival mech. He only wanted to help. He fixed Elita. No one in my ranks could ever do that. Please, you're nothing but a culmination of your brother's failures. I got you out of the way for the perfect opening!"

Everyone in the room had fallen silent and I turned to see Prowl and Ratchet frozen in pure shock, First Aid's optics wide with astonishment.

"Look at me when I talk to you."

I turned back to him and the old mech's face was twisted in triumph. I shook my head.

"I don't know what twisted you so, but it's not going to work. I won't give up my family. If my men didn't think I was fit to lead them, I would gladly step down. But you've just admitted to attempted murder. That makes you a traitor. And traitors aren't men."

I let him go, causing him to crash back down on the berth. "And you're not my father, no matter how involved you were in creating my frame."

"You want to know what really made me do this? Do you? It _was _your Primus damned father. He was younger than me by a few thousand vorns and he was given the Staff of Balance. It's alright, I told myself. I will help him use his power for justice. At first, it works and for millennia he does a brilliant job as master of time and space. And then he runs off and ruins it all, and your brother Megatron is born. A dark, twisted son of a whore he was. He comes back a few hundred vorns later, all reformed and such and I let him go back to his duties. But lo and behold, not 3,000 vorns after that brat was born, he runs of with another femme, a mated one no less, and you were born.

And I thought you would be the same, but I was wrong. You were powerful, noble, everything a Prime should be. I hated you, yet I even helped enhance your spark chamber so it would better bear the weight of the Matrix. But then along came Elita, and you made exactly the same mistake as Vector Prime did. You lost sight of what was truly important."

"That's enough, ya' old two-bit slaggard."

We all turned to see Ironhide, his arms crossed and perfect badass scowl going.

"Ironhide what are you-" said Ratchet, coming over from his spot in the corner.

"Ah'm settin' this stupid aft right. He of all mechs should know that family's more important than anythin'. Isn't that right, number three?"

"Don't you dare-"

"Oh boo-hoo, you've got some bad little brothers. Get in line. Don't ya know 'bout Prowl's life? Get over yerself you old coot and quit terrorizin' Optimus or _I will end you_. Understood?"

I stared. He then turned his gaze on me and smirked.

"An' you; you know better. He's not worth it. Leave 'im be to sulk alone. He'll never have any friends an' he knows it. No more than what he deserves."

I could only nod hypnotically at the older mech.

"An' if you two punks breathe a word of what ya heard and I'll get Chromia on yer afts."

Prowl nodded dumbly, a first for him, while First Aid's head moved up and down so fast I thought it was going to roll off. Ratchet just turned around and went into his office mumbling, I was quite sure, about how everyone was going to be turned into a toaster one day.

"Aw leave 'im be Optimus. Now let's go. The fossil over thar is givin' me tha evil optic."

"Ironhide-"

"It's alrigh' Optimus. I know. Now c'mon, he's not worth yer time."

I followed the older mech out of the Med Bay, feeling like a small child again, but looking back to see Alpha Trion's glare I also felt like a mech twice my age.

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I opened my optics instantly as the seething emotions from my bondmate flooded me. What could have upset Optimus so? A klick later though, the flood slowed and I felt reassurance instead. Satisfied that it could wait until he got back to our quarters, I settled back down.

"Mom, is everything alright?"

"Rodimus, what are you doing up?"

"I always wake up when Dad's gone."

That in itself was worrying, but seeing the concern on my son's face I sat up and beckoned him over. He came over and sat down, leaning back against me. I wrapped my arms around him and rested my chin on his helm.

"Now, tell me what's really bothering you."

"I had a dream."

"You Prime mechs, I swear. Alright then, tell me."

"It starts out a little strange, a planet orbiting another. Then it changes until the planet opens up and then it eats the other planet."

I tightened my grip on him just slightly, but enough for him to notice my concern.

"Mom?"

"Oh nothing sweetspark. It's just that you and your father cause me to worry more than any other beings in this galaxy."

"Why is that?"

Now I knew where Skyrider got her inquisitiveness from. They were so like me when I was young, always asking questions and wondering why things happened. Rodimus though, worried entirely too much like his father.

"You two always take everything so personally. It is your father's place to lead, and will one day be yours, but I have never thought it was his place to sacrifice his own hopes. As Sam says, no sacrifice, no victory, but that does not mean he cannot be happy. And I want you to know that is all we want for you."

"But mom," he said, sitting up, "how can I not take everything so personally? How can dad? You don't understand, mom. We're not just responsible for you and the twins. Nor are we just responsible for our friends. Our entire race is our job. Decepticon and Autobot alike."

I smiled sadly and cupped his face.

"You are so much like your father, and you didn't even spend enough time with him to act like that. But always know Rodimus, that whatever happens, I am so proud of you."

He gave me a strange look and I realized that I sounded cryptic, even to myself. I shook my head, clearing my processor of the thoughts and smiled at him.

"Just be yourself Rodimus. There is nothing better you can do than that."

"Okay Mom, I promise."

"Good. Now back to bed with you. Go on, I'll wait until your father comes back."

He hesitated for a klick before nodding and heading off to bed. I let the smile slip off my face and felt the worry return. Deciding that sitting here and moping wasn't going to get anything done, I got up and went to the kitchen. My internal chronometer told me it was about five in the morning, around the time I got up anyway, so I might as well get a glass of energon.

"You're up early."

I jumped, nearly dropping the glass. Optimus swooped down and caught it just before it could shatter on the floor.

"You're getting old. It almost hit the floor," I gently teased. He smirked and set it down on the counter, placing an arm on each side of me and rubbing his helm softly against mine. I reached up and rubbed his antennae and he rumbled softly, just like his children did when I did the same to them.

"What's wrong?" I asked, sliding my hands lower until they rested on his chest, directly over his thrumming spark chamber. I could feel the Matrix react to my touch and Optimus just buried his head beneath my chin.

"I'm tired," he whispered. And I could feel that. He was worn-out, physically and emotionally.

"I know darling, but we can't give up," I murmured back. I leant back and looked him straight in the optics. "I know. How about we go out later today, hmm? Just you and me."

He only thought about it for a few astro-seconds before smiling. "I'd like that."

"Good. Now, go back to bed. I won't have the twins up and running around just because you're wandering about."

"I will, if you join me," he purred, running his hand down my back. I swatted him gently on his nose.

"Tsk, tsk, not yet."

"Please?"

"No Optimus."

"Pretty please with an energon goody on top?"

I thought about it for a klick, and he knew I was only teasing. "Oh, I suppose."

"As you wish."

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While mom and dad were polite enough to inform me that they were going out for the day, that didn't mean I was free to do whatever I wanted. They left the rest of the base with strict instructions that I was to be the one to care for the twins while they were away. So much for racing.

"Roddy, why are you so sad?"

I looked down and saw that it was Sentinel who asked. Our sister was normally the curious one, but she was still taking her nap and I had decided that it was probably best to leave her be.

"I'm not sad buddy; I'm just a little disappointed is all."

"Oh. What does disappointed mean?"

I thought about it for a minute and sighed. "It means upset. It's alright though, don't worry about, okay?"

"Okay. Are you sad because you have to watch me and Sky?"

I knelt down and rubbed his helm, as a human would ruffle someone's hair. He pouted and pushed my hand away. I grinned at my little brother and tweaked his antenna.

"Not funny Roddy!"

I scooped him up and blew softly on his abdominal plating, causing him to shriek with laughter.

"Oh really? You're laughing an awful lot!"

He giggled for a few more seconds before I stopped and he wrapped his arms around my helm.

"You're the best big brother ever," he sighed, dozing back into recharge. It seems as if I was just part of intermission today. But he nestled himself under my chin and I felt that strange fluttering in my spark again. It was the same feeling as when I had learned that I wasn't an orphan anymore. I realized that it was love coming from my family's bonds.

"Love you too little man," I murmured back, setting him back down next to his sister. He immediately curled up across from her, linking his hand with hers. Skyrider didn't wake, but laced her fingers with his as she continued her recharge. Twins were such strange creatures.

Deciding that I could leave them to recharge and the berth wouldn't self-combust, I went about cleaning my weapons, something mom never let us do around the twins. It was still strange to me, to have a mom telling me what I can and can't do at home. Pit, it was strange to have siblings. But I have never felt so wanted in my life. It amazed me how mom and dad took me in, no questions asked and how the twins could be happier to have a big brother. This concept of family, their undying devotion to making everyone feel loved, was amazing.

I carefully took apart my pistol and pulled a cleaning cloth out of my subspace to polish the outside first. I could almost hear Ironhide's gravelly voice lecturing me on the importance of appearance.

_How yer weapon looks is important! It don't have to look impressive, although that helps, but a clean weapon is a dangerous one. It tells yer enemy that it works. Nothin' is more important than tha' inside though. Doesn't matter if it's pretteh on tha' ouside. If it's dirty on tha' inside, yer a dead mech!_

I smiled to myself as his words came to my processor. He was another strange one. Decepticons probably collectively flushed their tanks at the thought of him and his sparkmate, but he was one of the most family oriented mechs around. He still treated Optimus like his own, checking on him all the time during the day, and even came around to check on Elita every once in a while. And there was the Bumblebee situation. Ironhide would do anything for his son; probably give up his beloved cannons even, just to see him happy.

And everyone had accepted me without a second thought as Optimus' son. It made me ecstatic to finally belong somewhere.

"Rodimus?"

I got up and went to check the scanner on the door to see Prowl's energy signature. I pressed a couple of buttons and the door slid open to reveal my father's SIC.

"Hi Prowl, what can I do for ya?"

"First off, I'm a sir to you. Second, the twins are late for their classes with Arcee and the other younglings."

I was taken aback. "I had no idea they were in school. Dad never mentioned anything like that."

"I don't suppose he would. Yesterday was their first day."

"Oh, well, umm…they're taking a nap right now. If you want to wake them, be my guest. I wouldn't suggest it."

I smirked on the inside at seeing the stoic mech pull a displeased face. I didn't dislike him, but sometimes he needed to get off his high speeder.

"Very well. I shall have to have a talk with Optimus later today about that. Never mind then. I shall inform Arcee."

"Alrighty then are we-"

I stumbled forward suddenly as the ground shook and sunk even lower as the glass in our windows blew inwards to cover everything in a fine layer of dust.

"What the frag?" I cursed, before thoughts of the twins in the other room made me get up. I was immediately pulled down by Prowl.

"What're you do-?"

"Don't move!" he hissed, gripping my wrist joint painfully tight. I heightened my audio's sensitivity to try and listen for what he was hearing and I was horrified to hear the roar of several jet engines.

"Seekers."

He nodded and after a klick of listening to the engines, the sound faded away. He let me go and I raced into the next room to see Sentinel cowering under a thermal blanket, Skyrider underneath him and equally terrified. I ran over and scooped them up.

"What's going on?" cried Skyrider, still gripping her twin tight.

"It'll be alright," I said, trying more to reassure myself than them. "It'll be alright."

They shrunk down into the curve on my arm as more explosions suddenly shook the city and I looked frantically to Prowl for instruction. His optics were wide with restrained worry, but his face was still stoic and unmoving.

"Rodimus, take them to the emergency room. Moonracer and Firestar will take care of them. After that, report to the command center for duty."

"Yes sir," I replied, snapping a quick salute before sprinting for what seemed like joors to get to where the two femmes were herding the younglings into. They held out their arms for Sentinel and he went with only the slightest hesitation, but Skyrider clung to my arm and would not let go.

"Sky, please!" I exclaimed, already stressed.

"NO!" she wailed, clinging to me tighter. Deciding that yelling was only going to stress her out more, I intaked a few times to calm myself down and brought her up so she could see my face.

"Sky, you've got to be a big femme now, okay? I have to go help mom and dad and uncle Prowl fight the bad guys."

"Okay. But you'll come back, right?" she replied, her optics more worried than they should be at her age. I smiled reassuringly.

"I promise, okay?"

She let go then, and Moonracer took her with a smile, cradling her against her shoulder.

"She'll be safe with me," she promised, letting me pat my sister's helm one last time before the doors slid shut. I turned heel and took off for the Command Center. It wasn't complete chaos, but there were definitely too many mechs in the room to be sane.

"Alright, listen up! There will be three teams, each charged with counterattacking a different group of Decepticons. Leader one, Ironhide, you'll be going for the ground forces. Take Chromia, First Aid, Wheeljack and Barricade with you!"

The group formed and were out the door a few klicks later, Ironhide's cannons humming. Prowl turned and nodded to Bumblebee.

"Bee, you'll need to take Flamewar, Arcee and Mirage with you to take out any scouts or snipers. Call if you need Perceptor's help."

At last, he looked around and his optics fell on me and Sunstreaker, as if he was deciding between the two. I was surprised when Sunstreaker stepped away, leaving me.

"Rodimus?"

"Yes sir?"

"You'll be leading the counter offensive against the Seekers. The twins and Thundercracker will assist you. Listen to Thundercracker as well; he'll be a valuable asset."

I saluted and looked back at my group and they all gave me nods. I motioned for them to follow and headed out the door, the chaos of the central control nothing compared to the roar of battle outside. I could see the blue glow of plasma being fired from Ironhide in the distance, rumbling like thunder every time it hit its target. Jets screamed over head and I snapped up, placing my sights on a tan and purple jet.

"That's Blitzwing!" shouted Thundercracker. "If you can distract him long enough, he'll change into his ground mode. The other two that should be around are Skywarp and Starscream. Leave Starscream to me!"

He took off a moment later, engines roaring as he made his way at a red and white jet. I saw a black and purple one screaming towards the central building and I turned to the twins.

"You ready?"

"Please kid, we've been kickin' Seeker can since before you were born!"

"No you weren't!"

"Shut up and watch!" said Sunstreaker, putting his hands on Sideswipe's shoulders and his foot in his brother's cupped hands. "Okay…now!"

And Sideswipe shot up, flinging his brother into the air to land on what I thought was empty air until the darker jet appeared in a flash of purple light. Sunstreaker's wrists parted to reveal two hooks and he sunk them into Skywarp's wings. The Seeker howled and immediately barrel rolled to try and fling him off. He was unsuccessful.

"Incoming!" screamed Sideswipe, pointing to the distance where a new jet was making its way towards us. It was glowing a strange golden color.

"Who the frag is that?" I asked, turning to the red twin. He shrugged, but got into position to jump.

"Alright Hot Rod, you ready?"

I bent down and made sure he could reach my back. He backed up, waiting until the perfect second and took a flying leap, landing on my back. I sprang up, shooting him into the air where he latched on to the new seeker. That left me, what?

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

I turned and came face to face with the towering form I could only place from nightmares.

"Megatron," I whispered as he stalked around me, narrowing his crimson optics at me when I pulled out my pistol and shield. I wasn't dad, but dammit, I wasn't going to let the biggest afthole in Cybertron's history past me.

"Yes," he hissed, continuing to circle me like some sick predator. "And who might you be? You look much like my brother. You're not his brat, are you?"

I shrank back, disliking the feeling of being able to sense his malevolent spark. He latched onto that and stopped, smiling a venomous smile.

"You are! Well, I assume you know who I am and I would just _love _to know my nephew's name."

"Suck slag," I growled, aiming my pistol higher at his head. He laughed.

"You won't shoot me. You're too much of a coward."

I lowered my pistol. Then I fired, leaving a considerable burn hole in his knee. He snarled, lashing out with his mace, and I barely managed to raise my shield before it smashed into me. I flew through the air and crashed into a wall, crumpling to the ground as warnings flashed across my vision.

"Insolent brat! You'll pay for that one!"

I scrambled to get up, discarding my pistol and whipping out my tonfa swords. Let's see how he chewed on those.

Apparently he had great teeth because he knocked me on my aft again. I got back up faster this time, swinging the blades just as Alpha Trion had taught me. I managed to slice off part of his shoulder armor, and he roared again, striking out and blessedly missing me. He slammed into me again though, when I was distracted by the others appearing around us, looking for a way in.

"No!" I cried out, holding up my hand. "You don't stand a chance! Please, stay ba-"I was cut off as a huge foot slammed down on my chest, his treads tearing my chassis to shreds. I struggled for breath as energon poured out of my wounds, staining the metal streets deep blue.

"You bastard!" roared Sunstreaker, lunging forward only to be stopped by his twin.

"No, you'll only put him in more danger!"

"But he'll die-"

Their voices faded out when a deafening blast echoed through the air and struck Megatron in the chest, knocking him off of me. I heaved in, cool air flowing over my overheated body as my intakes could work again. I looked up to see my father, energon axe humming and pistol still aimed at his brother's momentarily still body.

"Are you alright Rodimus?" he asked, his optics still fixed ahead.

"Y-yeah" I gasped out, struggling to my feet to stand beside him. My chest's pain receptors screamed at me, but I stood tall, brandishing my own blades.

"Let's roll," he said, taking off to surround Megatron on his left. I followed, taking his right and we struck him as one, sending him crashing to the ground again. Before he could get up again, father put his foot on his chest and slid back his mask, baring his teeth.

"Don't touch my son," he snarled, applying more pressure to his chest. Megatron grinned and I realized what he was going to do a split second before my father. I shoved him away before Megatron's foot whipped around and swept me off my feet and his foot was once again on my chest.

"Tsk, tsk, Optimus I wouldn't do that if I were you," he threatened, slamming his arms together to point his rifle in my face. I tried not to flinch, but the heat coming off of it was horrible and I could feel my paint bubbling on my helm.

"Head or Spark?" he asked me, smiling.

"Do it," I snarled up at him.

"If you say so."

I heard the whine of the rifle and prepared myself to feel its blazing round, closing my optics. When it didn't come, I opened them to see that he had spun around and was pointing it at Dad. I struggled, trying desperately to reach for him when my arm was crushed under Megatron's other foot.

"NO!" I screamed, "Move! MOVE!" I screamed again, wriggling helplessly under my uncle's foot.

"Move and I'll kill him before you can fire," hissed Megatron, a second weapon folding out of his shoulder and pointing at me.

"Dad no!" I cried.

My spark crumpled when I saw the look of defeat on my father's face. I was blown back as Megatron fired his rifle and I felt my spark surge with pain as he smiled at me once before the round struck him, blowing a huge hole in his chest.

"DAAAAD!"

He crumpled to the ground, knees hitting first before he fell sideways and lay still. Behind him I saw the horrified looks of the twins and I understood a part of why he hadn't moved. I roared in pain as I felt my father's life ebbing away and tore myself out from under Megatron, leaving my arm behind as a result. I turned and jabbed upwards with my remaining blade, satisfied as I felt his main energon lines split in half. He fell too, gasping as the bright red liquid burbled up in his throat. I turned away and raced over to where my father had fallen and slid onto my knees beside him.

"Dad? Dad look at me! Dad!" I sobbed hysterically, shaking him. His optics flickered weakly and he managed a smile.

"Rodimus…"

"No Dad, don't you give me that slag! You're not going to die, not again!"

"Rodimus, be still."

I froze, grasping his limp hand with my remaining one as he looked up at me. I tried desperately not to notice the wires hanging out of the gaping wound in his side, but when I realized his right arm had also been blown off in the attack I could only watch as his life ebbed away around me.

"I called Ratchet, so you'd better hang on," said Sunstreaker from behind me, scowling. Dad smiled again, but his hand slid out of my grasp as he reached for his chest.

"Rodimus, promise me you'll take care of your mother."

"No dad, no. You're going to be fine. Tell mom yourself!"

"Rodimus please! Here, the Matrix. You must take it before my spark fades," he ordered, the glowing relic hovering above his hand, now slick with his own energon. I reached forward, my hand shaking, and took it. It pulsed once before my chest slid open on its own and it was pulled inside before my plates shut again. My father sighed in relief.

"Good. Now, pull yourself together Rodimus. You are the Prime now, and I am so proud of you."

I stayed silent, telling myself it was just a bad dream.

"He is coming Rodimus, you know he is, and you must not give up. Never. Till all are one."

And he fell silent, and he gripped my hand tight once. "I love all of you."

And then, in one last burst of light from his spark, my father died.

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Optimus, whyyyyyy? Y u no live? Why must you traumatize my childhood in every series?

PLEASE REVIEW!

(Don't hate me, please!)


	28. Fallen

_Chapter 28_

"_**Nu kyr'adyc, shi taab'echaaj'la"**_

"_Not gone, merely marching far away."_

_~ Mando'a via Karen Traviss_

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"Elita?"

I didn't respond, but curled up tighter in my berth. I clutched the ankle accessory Optimus had given me on our first anniversary closer to my chest.

"Elita please, your children are waiting for you."

My children who, whenever I looked at them, looked exactly like Optimus. I just shut my optics, the pain in my spark pulsing wildly.

"Fine. Come out when you're ready."

Chromia shut the door behind her and I was left in the dim light of my room. It was already cold and we had only sent Optimus away two days ago. I hadn't even realized until later that we were also sending off three others with him. Flamewar, Barricade and First Aid hadn't survived the battle either.

But leaving the biggest void was my sparkmate's body, cleaned of energon, but still and silent, empty of the warmth and love he usually gave off in waves.

The pain was coming back again when I heard the door open again and felt the familiar beat of the Matrix. I turned excitedly. Perhaps it had just been a bad dream.

"Mom?"

My spark fell when I saw that it was Rodimus and I turned away. He looked so much like his father!

"Mom please. I can't do this without you."

Even though I didn't say a word, didn't face him, he came over and sat beside me and put a gentle hand on my helm.

"It's okay mom. It'll be okay. I'm here."

I let out a sob. It was me who should be in his place. It was my job as his mother to make sure he was comforted.

"No it's not," I whispered, allowing myself to sob instead of holding the horrible silence I had for the past few days.

"Mom, I miss you. Sentinel and Skyrider miss you too. They need you right now mom."

I looked over my shoulder at him. His optic ridges were knitted together, just like Optimus always did when he was worried. But I also saw him in Rodimus' attitude. My son carried himself differently and I could see that he had aged significantly in his spark over the last few days. I sat up and he wiped the tears off of my face.

"We'll always need you."

I smiled once, before it dropped back into what I knew was a miserable expression. I reached up and stroked his cheek.

"You are my little guardian, aren't you? Your father was so happy to meet you Rodimus. I want you to know that. He didn't love anything more than you and your siblings."

"Mom you don't have to-"

"No, it's alright. I just want to make sure you knew that. Don't you _ever_ blame yourself for what happened. I would have done the same in his place and we would have died a thousand times over if it meant we could save our children. Especially one we had lost before. Optimus refused to lose you again," I murmured, letting him lean into me.

"Love you mom."

"I love you too sweetspark."

He stood up then and a held out a hand for me. I stood up next to him, a new conviction in my spark. Perhaps someday we would find a way…Sam.

"Sam!" I suddenly exclaimed. "I didn't even think of him! We could ask him to heal the others and your father-"

A look in his optics had me falling silent.

"Samuel James Witwicky's location is currently unknown. Carly and Daniel turned up a little after dad died, hysterical and screaming that Sam had disappeared in a flash of light."

"Of course," I murmured. I couldn't have the slightest hope that I'd ever see my beloved again.

"I searched mom. For _days_. I just got back a few hours ago. Ironhide and Ratchet are still out searching."

My face fell as we made our way into the living area. Toys and data pads were scattered about, and I took great care to avoid the pads.

"What happened in here?" I asked, looking at him. Rodimus rubbed the back of his neck abashedly.

"I've been watching the twins while I work. I can't ask anyone to watch them all the time, that's not fair."

I felt my expression soften. Prime mechs, what could I do with them?

"Where are the twins now?" I asked. The domicile was too quiet for them to be home.

"Chromia has them, and Nebulos. She's keeping them busy in the rec room. Prowl's been AWOL since Flamewar and Barricade died."

I nodded, letting the information sink in. "I want to see them."

"Okay. Let's go then. That's fine."

I followed him, faintly aware of the sorrow that tainted the air. Everyone lowered their optics out of respect for both Optimus and Rodimus as we passed, including General Lennox when we came to a stop outside of the rec room. He looked up at me with apologetic green eyes.

"Hello Elita."

"William."

"I'm sorry we couldn't get here fast enough. I want you to know that the men and I are just as hurt. He was our friend."

"Thank you," I whispered. He smiled softly.

"You are always welcome. Rodimus Prime," he replied, nodding to my son. Rodimus nodded back and went into the room. Inside the television was playing quietly in the background as Chromia gently rocked my son, his sister already asleep on the couch. Nebulos sat in a chair close by, curled up with the little Seeker femme, Simaria, fast asleep. Thundercracker was the only other person in the room and he sat eerily still in the corner, observing everything with studious optics.

"Kid, you are somethin' else. You got her out of her berth."

"Chromia, she's my mother. I couldn't let her stay in there by herself."

"You're a sweetspark too, just like your daddy."

I walked over and took Sentinel from her, shushing him when he startled awake from the shift.

"Momma?" he asked, rubbing his optics.

"Yes darling, it's me."

He latched on to me, reaching across our bond with a desperate need of attention. I sent him back pure love, causing him to calm and fall back into recharge.

"They've been through a lot," whispered Chromia, pulling the thermal blanket over both of them as I laid Sentinel next to his sister. "I'm glad you're here now."

"They need me," I answered, looking over to Rodimus as well as he talked quietly with Thundercracker. Chromia followed my gaze and her expression turned soft.

"He's been magnificent Elita. You should be proud. He hasn't slowed down once since his father died. Even when Prowl went AWOL, he stepped in and handled the situation. He even managed to calm Sunstreaker down when Moonracer couldn't."

The mention of my elder twins made me blanch. I hadn't even thought of them.

"How are they?"

"They'll be okay with time."

"And Daniel?" I asked, concern for the human child taking over.

"I don't know. We're looking so hard for Sam, but…we don't even know where to start."

I sighed. What were we going to do? Rodimus may have stepped up to the plate, but that didn't mean the men would support him.

"Elita, yer finally out? I missed you sweetspark."

I turned and let Ironhide gently hug me. He drew back a few seconds later and looked away. I quickly observed that his armor was covered in numerous welds and that his left optic was crushed. His working one was dark with grief.

"Ahm so sorry Elita," he whispered, arms hanging limply by his sides. "It should've been me. I saw Megatron landin'. I should have saved Optimus…"

It was then that I also noticed Chromia's hands resting on her abdomen and her expression was one of such guilt that I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by my pity for her rather than my own pain. I knew that feeling. I remembered it from when I was pregnant with Rodimus. I had thought 'as long as it's not him, I don't care'. But I could see her looking at me with those pleading optics and it made my spark hurt more, which I didn't think was possible.

"Ironhide, it's alright. There was nothing you could have done. And besides, that sparkling needs their father."

"And so do yours. I would gladly give mah life so that yer sparklings would not have ta' live in a world without their father."

"But Chromia and Bumblebee need you as well Ironhide. And Optimus would not have wanted you to sacrifice yourself for him."

Before he could answer his son and Ratchet dragged themselves into the room and as one backed away when they saw me, the same guilt in their optics. I was beginning to feel anger instead of sorrow. It wasn't their fault slaggit!

"Ratch, Bee," I said, going over to hug each of them. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Thank you Elita. But I'm afraid we have more bad news."

Everyone looked at Ratchet with dreaded anticipation.

"Our moon base has detected a massive object making its way towards us as we speak. And Rodimus…I think you know what I'm talking about."

"Unicron."

"What?" I exclaimed, looking over to my son. He frowned as he came over. Making sure the children were still fast asleep, he began to explain.

"I told about that dream I had, remember? Dad had it too, for days before the battle. Unicron is on his way here mom, and I have no idea how to stop him."

I let the information sink in, silently lamenting to myself. Optimus, why had you left us at such a time? You would know what to do!

_Remember, I would never leave you without help. Daniel is Sam's son…_

"Daniel," I said, looking at everyone around me. Bumblebee chirruped curiously.

"Daniel is Sam's son. He has the same eyes as his father. Some of the Allspark's power is in him. He may be our only hope against Unicron."

Ironhide and Chromia nodded excitedly but Rodimus, and especially Bumblebee, looked hesitant.

"I don't know, he's only a child," said Rodimus, thinking hard. "We'll have to ask his mother."

"Fine," I said, fully confident in Sam's son.

I only hoped my confidence was well placed.

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Three days. Dad had been gone for three days. What was I supposed to do without him? Mom still hadn't come out of her room and Mrs. Lennox had come over to take care of me.

"Daniel, honey, are you hungry?"

I looked up to see her and I shook my head. "No ma'am."

"Alright, but you've got to eat soon, okay?"

"Okay."

She gave me a sad smile before going off again, and I could hear the clink of dishes a few minutes later as she sang down in the kitchen. I knew that inside she was suffering. I had always been able to do that kind of thing. I also knew that I was different from other kids. No kid should be able to run as fast as me, or be able to solve quantum level mechanics on a home calculator. They shouldn't have glowing blue eyes either, or be able to speak fluent Cybertronian. A language that was impossible for a human to pronounce in its entirety.

I just lay back on my bed and sighed, blowing a lock of hair out of my face. Optimus Prime had died and my life had gone down the toilet. I missed him too. Everything always seemed less scary with the tall mech around.

"Dad, where are you?" I whispered to myself, watching as symbols danced across my vision.

**Shadow.**

**Shadow come.**

**Shadow.**

**SHADOW!**

Like I knew what my freaky powers were trying to tell me. I saw shadows all the time, the same time every day. Nothing too scary about them.

**Doom-bringer.**

**Monster.**

**Unicron.**

**UNICRON! SHADOW!**

I jolted up, clutching at my head as the two symbols overlapped to reveal that they were one and the same. I got up and ran down the stairs and out the door.

"Bee? Bee I need you right now!"

I heard his footsteps before I saw him come around the corner. His face was still one of the sadness that seemed to be a common theme lately. He and dad had been best friends though and I could understand why he was so upset.

"Yesss…Daniel?" he hissed through his finicky voice capacitor. He must be really upset for it to crackle that badly.

"Unicron is like your guys' devil, right?"

"Similar…yesss."

"Is he coming here?"

I saw him blanch and knew immediately that my suspicion was right.

"How do you…know that?"

"I keep seeing the same symbol over and over again. Shadow."

"**Unicron," **he said in Cybertronian. "That is… the actual word for shadow in…our language."

I nodded. "Right. And I keep getting visions of him too. We need to stop him before he even hits our solar system."

"What…do you suggest?"

"I can help. My dad has superpowers, why can't I?"

"Daniel," he began, and from the tone of his voice, he was about to give one of his rare lectures. I sighed and he bent down and picked me up.

"I have already…lost…your father Daniel. I do not…wish to lose…you to."

"But I have a chance to make a difference Bumblebee. I can help. He's my dad. Optimus was my friend too. Please."

He cupped his hands further around me and for a moment, I felt as if I was in a cocoon.

"Daniel, it is my job…to keep you safe…, but it is also my job to…keep Sam safe. If you can help your father…then I see no reason why not."

I smiled and he transformed, his alt mode curling around me and I settled in his passenger seat.

"Thanks Bee."

"You are the person, most important to me. If there's anything you need…"

I smiled, knowing that he had told my dad the same words when he doubted himself.

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I was beginning to see why dad seemed so much older than he really was. Being Prime was hard. Being Prime while your SIC was AWOL was harder.

_Dad, if you're in there, I could really use your help right now._

But the Matrix had been silent since I had received it a little over five days ago. The only reason I remembered it was the steady pulse that it radiated. Power thrummed through me, but I felt weak, unable to help as I watched the people around me suffer for my mistake. I had gotten mom to come out of her room, but she still wandered about with a haunted look in her optics. Ironhide and Ratchet couldn't, wouldn't, look at me. I knew the saw both my father, and his killer, in me.

_Slaggit. You told me it would be difficult, but you never mentioned the pain involved._

My spark had been aching constantly for days now. I didn't think it was just because dad was dead. There was something wrong with me. Every time I walked into a room, I could feel the emotions of the bots in it suffocating me, pressing in every direction on my frame. I could feel their pain, their desires, their hopes and their fears. I could feel it all and it made me miserable.

_Rodimus, you must not let that weigh you down. Turn those emotions into a purpose. Help them; that is your duty._

Excitement raced through me when I heard his voice, but it left as soon as I figured out it was just a memory of my father, fleeting and gone as soon as it had come.

"Rodimus, incoming message from Teletraan 1."

I turned, nodding to Perceptor. "Proceed."

The display in the command center flashed to life to reveal the form of a mech I knew only from stories.

"Ultra Magnus."

"Optimus…?"

"No sir. This is Rodimus Prime. Optimus…my father, fell in battle."

And as soon as the words were out of my mouth, I wished I could take them back. Ultra Magnus' face fell with astonishing speed. He composed himself quickly though, and went on to explain positive news.

"We're extremely far ahead of schedule. We should be there in weeks, not years. Alpha Trion was right. The Centaurie Tetrax was a shortcut."

Alpha Trion. I had forgotten about him. It didn't surprise me that he hadn't left the Med Bay, the treacherous old mech.

"That's great. I hope to see you soon, commander."

"And you as well, Rodimus Prime. Give my condolences to your mother for me."

"Absolutely."

And his image was gone, the screen going dark as the transmission ended. I turned to Perceptor.

"I screwed that up, didn't I?"

"…Yeah, you did."

I nodded. "Yep, saw that one coming. He and dad were close, huh?"

"Childhood friends from what I understand."

"Huh."

I turned and strode out, leaving the scientist to fiddle with the computers. He seemed to enjoy that kind of thing. It was good to see someone distracting themselves around here. It made me feels as if I was able to help somebody. Something that I can't seem to do lately.

"Roddy! Wait for me!"

I looked back and saw Sentinel, his gangly legs seeming to go in every direction as he raced after me. I stopped, waiting for him to catch up. I knelt down to hear what he had to say.

"What is it little man?"

"Prowl's back! Momma said to come get you!"

"Okay, you go back to the rec room, understand?"

He nodded solemnly and went back the direction that he came from. I headed the opposite way, continuing on until I was outside. The adults, and Nebulos, had gathered there and standing a few yards away from them was a battered Prowl. Everyone parted when I came through and he saluted me, which looked rather odd with his doorwings hanging crookedly on his back.

"Mission success sir."

I raised an optic ridge. "And what mission would that be?"

"I have located the mechs responsible and killed them. I was not able to locate Megatron or Starscream. Soundwave, Skywarp and Blitzwing escaped with minimal injuries."

"And the others?"

"I killed them."

He said it so indifferently. Prowl was famous for his usually stoic expression, but here he was covered in what I now realized what was not his own energon, but those of the Decepticons that he had killed.

"Prowl, I gave no such orders."

"Logic dictates that this was the right thing to do. They killed my blood, therefore they owe me theirs."

"Chromia, take Nebulos inside," I ordered, keeping a watchful optic on Prowl. She hurried to do so, shushing the youngling when he tried to talk to his uncle.

"Prowl, I understand that you're upset. We have all lost someone important to us though, and they would not want you to do this in their name."

"The Pit with you!" he roared, lashing out. I easily avoided the blow, circling around until I was behind him. I motioned for everyone to step back.

"He was my brother! My responsibility! How could you ever understand that? The feeling that even after they've been dead for millennia, that you keep failing your parents!"

I narrowed my optics. That was not the thing to discuss with me.

"Don't," I said, warning in my tone. He didn't heed it.

"You only knew your father for a few months. Barricade has been my responsibility for nearly 3,000 vorns."

I intaked sharply, trying to keep clam as he rambled on. _'It's not Prowl talking, it's his grief.'_

"It was your fault."

And reason went right out the door. I leapt at him, howling in anger. He didn't even try to dodge, but met me with equal ferocity. I bowled him over, pinning him down and raising my fist to smash into his faceplates. Just before I landed the blow, however, I stopped myself. I was Prime now, and this was not the behavior of such a person. I let him up and backed away.

"Go cool off Prowl. And then come talk it out."

"Don't turn your back on me!" he screamed, but I kept walking. I heard Ironhide and Ratchet shift to hold him back as I retreated inside.

"They're dead because of you! They were looking for you!"

I turned, optics wide in horror.

"That was their intent! To capture you!"

"No," I breathed. No, no, no. Don't say that. Please, not now. Not after what had happened.

"That is quite enough Prowl!" thundered a new voice and I turned to see Alpha Trion, limping out the door and leaning heavily on his staff. "Do not speak of things you presume to know."

This did indeed cause Prowl to fall silent. I watched, transfixed as Alpha Trion made his way over to the enraged mech and raised one clawed finger to touch his forehead. A small ripple of power went out and Prowl's optics flashed before he fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Why you-!" growled Ironhide, reaching for him. Alpha Trion held up hand and he stopped.

"Peace Ironhide. He is only unconscious. He'll wake up in a few hours, good as new. Now, come young Rodimus, we have much to discuss."

"He's not going anywhere with you," said Ratchet, crossing his arms. The others stared puzzledly at him, but he held his glare at my former mentor. I waved my hand at him.

"It's okay Ratchet. He won't do anything. He wouldn't dare."

Alpha Trion scowled at me, but he beckoned for me to follow anyway. "Come, walk with me."

I went, knowing he really wouldn't try anything since everyone was witness to me leaving with him. We walked in silence for several minutes before they came to a stop beside Sunstreaker and Sideswipe's domicile.

"I presume your father told you about them?"

"Yes."

"Good. I want you to give the Prime title to Sideswipe."

I glared at him. "Nice try old man. You know as well as I do that they don't want the responsibility."

"True, but they are in fact several hundred vorns your senior and as such, more suitable candidates for being Prime than you."

"I will honor their wish. I would not want such a burden for anyone else to bear."

"Come now. You forget that I raised you. Right now you want nothing more than for your father to come back and take the Matrix back as well. You hate your position. You are afraid of the responsibility and the consequences it holds."

My engine rumbled in my chest in warning, but he only laughed at me.

"See? This proves my point. You are getting defensive because you know that it is true."

"It proves nothing. Do not insult me."

"I've done no such thing. Why is it that young people are always insulted by the truth about themselves?"

"My father-"

"Your father is dead!" he thundered, eyes flashing crimson. "Do not use him as an excuse!"

"You have no right to say that!" I roared back! "You stole them from me! You have never asked my opinion and that has gone on long enough! I am Prime! You will hear me out and you will listen!"

"Good, you are angry; much more so than your father could get over something so small. You have much of your mother in you as well, despite the sniveling femme she is right now."

"Don't," I rumbled. He had no right insulting my mother right now.

"Very well. Come along then. I still have much to discuss with you."

"Then you can do it later."

"Excuse me?"

I pointed in the direction of the city's gates, where I could see Bumblebee roaring up the road.

"He just comm. linked me. He said it was very urgent and that Daniel wants to speak with me."

"The human youngling?"

"Yes. Sam's son."

I saw a hungry glint appear in Alpha Trion's optics, one that I had seen many times before, and it made me uneasy. He was fascinated by Sam and Daniel, and once he was hooked on something, he wouldn't let it go until he had learned every conceivable fact about it.

"Save it for later," I admonished, turning away from him and going towards the approaching scout. "Right now, saving this planet and our home is more important."

I only hoped we weren't too late.

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	29. In Blackest Night

_Chapter 29_

"_How you are fallen from heaven,_

_O Day Star, son of Morning!_

_How your are cut down to the ground,_

_You who laid the nations low!_

_You said in your heart,_

'_I will ascend to heaven;_

_Above the stars of God_

_I will set my throne on high;_

_I will sit on the mount of assembly_

_In the far reaches of the north;_

_I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;_

_I will myself be like the Most High.'_

_But you are brought down to Sheol,_

_To the far reaches of the Pit."_

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Revenge.

It coursed through my veins, that thundering, burning fire of hatred. It tainted my spark, turning the deep recesses of gentle blue to vicious black. It warped me, turning me into an unrecognizable beast, incapable of having morals, of caring, of mercy. It turned me into a monster.

I relished it.

They were fools, the Primes, to live as they have defending the weak, the poor, and the incapable. They are cowards; too weak themselves to realize how those kinds of people drag down our very civilization with their pathetic needs. They allow shameful freedom to every one of our kind, most too incompetent to follow the simple laws of nature. How can there be peace when the very council that the populaces 'elected' refuses to allow me, their Lord High Protector, do what I am called to do?

_**Patience young one.**_

_My master. You speak to me?_

_**And why should I not? You have done me a valiant service. Optimus Prime has been an obstacle in my way for far too long.**_

_You honor me with your praise, Lord Unicron._

_**Hold your thanks Megatron; disciple of my Fallen, your work is not done yet.**_

_You mean my nephew?_

_**Yessss. But there is another. One far older than your generation. One who has seen stars come and go. One who was the brother to your own father.**_

_Another Prime? Who?_

_**Alpha Trion. The third of the brothers. A coward who stepped away from the fighting between Megatronus and his brothers.**_

_I shall make them burn. I shall make them all burn._

_**Ah, but there is also a human that is of interest to me.**_

_The boy? The one who carries the Allspark's knowledge?_

_**Yes. He becomes more like us every passing second. Slowly, his blood turns to energon, his skin to alloy. His eyes even, glow with the fires of a spark. This is unacceptable.**_

_I understand. What do you wish me to do?_

_**I shall do you a favor and raise your most loyal subject to assist you. You are changing, young Megatron. Your frame has already reflected so. As such, you deserve a new name.**_

_I would be honored, my Shadow King._

_**Then rise, Galvatron, Prime-slayer and enemy of the light.**_

Curious. I did not remember feeling so light. I lifted my arm and brought it before me. Most of my armor was gone, replaced by a sinewy exoskeleton of overlapping cybertronium scales. I wriggled my fingers, delighted with the fact that I had kept my claw-like extensions. I looked to my right, sensing movement and saw Soundwave, optics wide as he stared at me. I smirked at him and looked over to my left and saw, much to my surprise, the prone form of Shockwave.

"So, he lives," I growled out. My voice was still my own, and that pleased me immensely.

"Affirmative: Lord Megatron," said Soundwave, still keeping his distance. I whipped around and instinctively thrust my left hand at him. He smashed into the monitor of the lab, lying still as wires and cables flew around him crackling with electricity. My scowl turned into a poisonous smile.

"I am Galvatron," I hissed, knowing my other soldiers were watching. "And Unicron has graced us with a mission."

Several of them, especially the notoriously superstitious seekers, drew back at my words with doubt in their gazes. I narrowed my optics and stood, finding that I had regained the four or so feet that Optimus had taken from me so many vorns ago. They shrank back even more as I soundlessly approached them.

"Cowards. Where is Starscream?"

"Behind you, _Lord Galvatron,"_ he sneered. I turned, stunned to see him nearly as tall as me. He noticed my slight change in expression and gave me a vicious smile.

"What, you thought you were the only one who could upgrade? I made a little visit to Quintesson while you were…changing, I suppose. I thought you would be pleased that your second in command would do anything in his power to remain powerful enough to be in your army."

"You have failed Megatron many times Starscream. Galvatron is different. I do not accept failure."

It satisfied me to see his arrogant grin drop. And then I spun and severed his head. His face was one of curious surprise before his red optics faded and his head rolled and bounced off the floor. His body remained standing, the red and yellow of his chest turning a deep purple as energon poured from his wound, before it fell rather ungracefully to the floor. I shrugged, unimpressed with this and turned to the bewildered Soundwave making his way out of the ruined computer screen.

I jerked my chin in the direction of Shockwave.

"Wake him."

I turned heel and left, the group of soldiers come to gawk spreading like oil to let me through. I knew their respect was now out of fear, and that made me feel more powerful than before. Power was indeed something to be feared, and it the hands of someone like me, terrified was vastly more appropriate.

I have work to do.

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_Ba-dump, ba-dump, thump, ba-dump._

Was that my heart? How could it be beating if I was dead? I was dead, wasn't I?

No, I realized as I sat up, I'm not. I was cold, yes, but blood still flowed through my veins and I could feel the cool surface of metal beneath my fingertips.

"Where am I?" I wondered aloud, trying to peer into the darkness around me. If it was this dark, it wasn't too hard to think that maybe, just maybe, I really _was _dead.

"You are on Cybertron."

I whipped around, the faint glow of my eyes just enough to make out a tall figure before me. I held out my hand instinctually and crab-walked away.

"Stay back!"

The figure held up its hands and suddenly a light blinked on, making me squint to adjust. Before stood a male transformer, no more than five feet taller than me. He had an amused smile on his face, and his chest was painted with a crude precursor to the Autobot insignia.

"Oh-ah- hello. Sorry about that. Who're you?"

He stepped forward, and I felt the air around me drop a good ten degrees. "I am nobody. Who are you? Are you, nobody, too?"

'Oookay,' I thought. 'This guy was off his rocker.' Then a thought hit me. If I was on Cybertron, why wasn't I exploding from lack of air?

"A fair question. You hold the power of the Allspark, why would you not be able to come to its homeworld?"

"So I'm not dead?"

"No. And it's rude not to introduce yourself."

"Oh. I'm Sam Witwicky."

"Ba-weep-graangh-weep-ninny-bong Sam Witwickity."

"It's Witwicky. And what the hell just came out of your mouth?"

"Are you not aware of the universal greeting?"

Yeah, the pothead universe. Seriously, what was this guy on?

"I'm not on anything…at least, not what you're thinking of."

Okay. Even weirder. Why can't I just have one normal day?

"Ah, I didn't notice before, I apologize, Samuel Prime."

I raised an eyebrow at him before I looked down and saw that I was still in my pajama pants and had no shirt on. The symbol for Prime pulsed on my chest, directly over my heart. I sighed, crossing my arms.

"Yeah, yeah. So have you seen anyone else around? A yellow mech named Bumblebee? Or maybe Optimus? He's really tall, dark blue, flames on his arms and legs."

He cocked his head curiously, like Mojo used to do when he was in pink, and his optic ridges, or whatever you call them, knitted together worriedly.

"You mean you do not know?"

"Know what?"

"Optimus Prime has fallen."

I felt the breath whoosh out of me. I shook my head.

"That's impossible. I brought him back myself!" I shouted, pointing a finger to my chest. "You must be lying!"

"I am not. In fact, I cannot. It is just my job to know," he said, and his face was noticeably more solemn as he explained.

"Oh yeah, then if you know so much, where is Carly? Vector told me I'd die a long time after she did!"

"I will say it once more. You are not dead, Sam. And Carly is on Earth, with your son."

I cursed. "Dammit! What happened?"

"I believe Optimus fell by Megatron's hand."

Shit, not again. I had promised Elita I would never let that happen again.

"Who _are_ you?" I demanded again, striding up to the mech. I felt frost forming on my eyelashes as I drew closer and by the time I was close enough to see the details of his armor, ice had formed around my lips.

"I told you. I am nobody."

"Don't give me that shit, what's your name?"

"Oh. That is a very different question. Why didn't you just ask?"

I would have screamed in frustration if I could open my mouth wide enough. I settled for glaring at him instead.

"I suppose I was called Younger once, many eons ago. But I suppose it was Cybertron who named me. My name, not who I am, is Primus."

Whoa, hold up. There was not a snowball's chance this guy was sane. He thought he was the god of Cybertron.

"You're crazy."

He only smiled tiredly. "I guess I would not expect you to understand, would I? People always seem to expect me to be enormous, the very embodiment of Cybertron itself. And indeed, that is one of my forms. But it is not a very convenient one is it?"

And suddenly the cold was gone, replaced by a balmy breeze as the mech reached out and turned my hands over, so my palms faced up.

"Watch, you want proof, no?"

And he stroked my palms with his thumbs, as someone might do to work out a cramp, and I felt my skin changing, growing tighter with each stroke. It took on a silvery sheen and suddenly my hands compressed, until I was certain the bone would show. Instead, metal joints appeared, wiry tendons turned to polished cables and I could see slim metal struts replace the bone.

"I see all my people as what they are underneath," he said, pulling away. I hissed in pain as my hands changed back, flesh sliding forward to cover bone once again.

"Okay, so you're Primus. What the hell are you doin' down here?" I asked, looking around at the dim hole we were in. A single glowing fixture cast off a greenish light, giving everything a sickly appearance.

His face grew immensely sad and for a moment, I could see Optimus in him, but it passed and he looked wistfully upwards, where I could see billions of stars winking in the sky.

"They have hurt me so. It causes me great pain to look upon what they have done to their home."

I nodded. I had heard my friends talk longingly of how beautiful Cybertron used to be. And how horrible it was last time they saw it. I had never seen Cybertron, except that once glimpse as it loomed over my own home nearly fifteen years ago.

"You are curious. Why, I wonder, do you wish to see such pain and suffering? Perhaps…it is because you somehow feel connected to this world?"

"I have heard so much about Cybertron…"I replied, unable to finish. I _was_ curious. How horrible could it be, for a race who talked so lovingly of their home, to have abandoned it? It was because of this world, that my life was the way it was. This was where most of my friends hailed from.

"Very well. Then, look."

He waved his hand and suddenly we stood on a desolate plane of metal, a distant star gleaming weakly off…

"Oh my god," I whispered, staring in horror at what lay before me.

Bodies. It was not boulders, nor hills that dotted the landscape. It was bodies. Still, silent frames lay scattered about where they had fallen long before my planet even had civilization. Cavernous craters pocketed the surface and as I looked up towards the honeycombed towers of my friends' home, I was appalled to see more bodies, dangling from above like twisted holiday ornaments. I put my hand to my mouth, sick.

"Look closely, young Prime. They are from both factions," Primus whispered, and I looked over to see a heartbroken expression on his face. He actually looked lost, uncertain how to face such a tragedy.

"I thought they would heed warning from my own struggles against my brother and from the Primes against theirs, but still…still they tore at each other. Still they fight."

He began walking, weaving in and out of the carnage with practiced ease and I followed, unable to look at the bodies as I passed by. I had tried once, and my sight had fallen on that of a sparkling, barely older than Sunstreaker's daughters were.

"Where are we going?" I managed to ask, as he continued towards an enormous tower that led to the lattice of the buildings above.

"We are standing, it what is left of the city of Praxus. Curious, isn't it, how the destroyed buildings have faded away, but the bodies have remained?"

I stopped. This was insane. Why was I here? What purpose could showing this to me possibly have?

"Why?"

"Because you carry the power to fix this, Samuel. No, not Cybertron. I am afraid that it is far too late to save me. But you carry my heart's, the Allspark's, power within you. The only problem is, is that you have not yet been able to control these powers to their full potential."

"Is that why I'm here?"

"Part of it, yes, but I have also learned from my conversations with Optimus that you are an exceptional young man. He held you in high regard Samuel. He even looked to you on how to be a father."

I was shocked. How could someone as wise, as _ancient_, as Optimus look up to me for anything? I was just Sam. I was a husband, and a father, but nowhere near to the extent that Optimus had been.

"You extremely underrate yourself Sam. You have done what any Cybertronian has not dared do. You have upset the very balance of life and death to save your friend. You destroyed Cybertron's most sacred artifact to save them. You are not a hero Sam, you are a savior."

I clutched at my hair, trying to absorb what he had told me. What happened to the days when I was just Sam?

But then again, had I ever really been just Sam? What other kid has a grandpa who went crazy from alien symbols? And was I really sure that Dad didn't know more than he should about Autobots? I bought a car, and it turned out to be an alien robot. My wife had more security clearance than the president. My son had super human powers. I am the Allspark.

I looked up at Primus. "Where do we start?"

He grinned. "Where everything starts; at the beginning."

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Deep within the farthest reaches of space, there is a void. No planet has ever existed here, no star ever been born, or black hole dared form. It is true emptiness, where even the biggest galaxy's arms cannot reach.

It is here that Unicron lurks.

For the moment, and moments for him are billions of years for us, he is incorporeal, an inky black stain upon the universe. This is why he must employ servants to do his work. If he were a solid being, if only he had his body, he would raze his brother's precious creations to the ground.

Younger.

It was Younger's fault he held this form, this insipid existence as no more than the dust of dying stars. He narrowed his eyes, burning red from the same stars, suffocating in his presence. That was how he and his brother had survived long before the Thirteen came along. They ate stars. That was what they had fought over.

Life. It was so fleeting for the creatures his brother adored so. And the audacity! Younger had folded himself up, gone dormant, so he would not absorb Cybertron's faint star. He had abandoned his brother, for the sake of the vermin he had imagined. The Primes.

But he now had his chosen warrior, so much crueler, so much more malicious than that fool Fallen. This one, Galvatron, had true hatred for the Prime dynasty. He had despised Primus' darling Optimus so much that Unicron felt that it was close to how much he hated his own brother. But while his was because of betrayal, Galvatron's was because of jealousy.

It was such a foul emotion. It made a being hunger for something that could not be sought after, and even more often could not be attained. It turned a soul rotten and twisted a person's mind. It was a breeding ground for all those other sins, it led to wrath, pride and lust. Wrath at the impossibility to attain what you wanted. Pride at thinking you were too good to want. And lust. It made you lust for so many things.

It was delicious.

Unicron could feel Galvatron's hatred and it made his own immortal spark beat with glee. This time, he had a chance.

He would make his brother pay.

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So, a short chapter, and a couple new points of view to change it up. I find the notion of Megatron and Galvatron being the same person, but different beings as well very interesting.

And thus, the plot thickens!

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	30. What Is

_Chapter 30_

"_The face of an enemy frightens me only when I see how much it resembles me."_

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_A/N: I have manipulated the canon environments below to better suit my story, the changes are intentional, so please do not try and tell me that I wrote it wrong. Thank you! _

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"Rodimus, wait."

I kept walking refusing to acknowledge Alpha Trion. If he did not wish to listen to my point of view, then I would not hear his. I knew I was being childish, but for once, I didn't care.

"Rodimus Prime," he boomed, before he was suddenly in front of me, finger outstretched. I felt the Matrix pulse in my chest as a warning. There was something wrong. Red optics flashed and a hand collided with my helm.

"I have waited thousands of vorns for this. If I could not rule there, then I will here."

And then the area around me began to fade away into a blinding blue light.

"NO!" I screamed, feeling myself falling away. But my body didn't heed my command I continued to fall. Red optics and a poisonous smile were the last things I saw before the light consumed me.

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I whirled through what seemed like space and time would feel like if they were tangible. Bright blue light swirled endlessly around me, slipping into my armor and making my protoform burn.

Then there was darkness.

And then, light.

And I tumbled out of the 'tunnel' and rolled across a very hard metallic ground. I just lay there at first, staring dazedly up at the sky until I realized I was looking up through Cybertron's honeycombed surface. I sat up quickly, glancing around at the planet I had left long ago. It didn't look much different from when Alpha Trion had shoved me on a transport with the others so many vorns ago. Smoke rising from dozens upon dozens of craters swirled up to blot out the sky, turning the atmosphere a dingy brown. Bodies lay about, left where they fell, and energon crusted the surface.

"You there, watch out!"

I leapt out of the way as two bots smashed together where I had been a few seconds ago. I saw the glint of red optics, and blue and knew Alpha Trion must have sent me back in time. Damn him! The only positive thought I had though, was that he hadn't killed me. I was distracted however as another bot approached me and narrowed his burning red optics at me.

"Just who the pit are you supposed to be?"

Lie.

"Name's Cliffjumper."

Where the hell had that name come from? I had never know anyone by that name.

"Really now? And why should I believe you?"

Lie again. I looked down at myself and saw that I was indeed in a different body. I was small, just a wire's length shorter of Bumblebee and bright red. I looked back up at the black and purple mech talking to me.

"Why should I believe you're not going to kill me? And it's rude not to introduce yourself before asking someone else their name."

The bot smirk and hauled me up by my shoulder.

"You're Cliffjumper alright. I don't know how, but you are. And you should know me, my name's Rodimus. We were friends before you died."

I jolted, taking a better look at his face. It was like looking in a mirror. A mirror with a really cruel sense of humor and…was that a mustache?

"What're you lookin' at?" he-I?- growled. I glanced away. Boy was I pissy here.

"Nothin', it's just you've gotten…taller, yeah taller since I last saw you!" I rambled. He-I- narrowed his crimson-crimson, the frag?- optics at me.

"That's what I thought. Now move it. I'll take you back to Optimus Prime," he barked, motioning for me to step onto a transport. The mech from earlier, the one with red optics, also appeared, his hand splattered with glowing energon.

Dad? He was alive? Of course he was this was the past. Then again, I don't ever remember having a mustache…or being purple. And I had never met him before a few months ago. Something was wrong.

"Don't look so scared. You know he hates that. And besides, he won't smelt you, he'll be happy to have another warrior added to the Autobot Conquest."

Conquest? I thought that was the Decepticon's job? And I really needed to find a nickname for my dark and despairing self here. Perhaps I could call him-

"Oh, and don't ever call me Rodimus in front of Optimus Prime. He hates it. Says it sounds too much like his name. Call me Major."

Major what, afthead?

"Whatever you say, Major. Where are we going anyway?"

"Iacon of course, where else?"

I looked out the side of the vehicle and gasped. This was not Iacon. I couldn't be. When had Iacon glinted with the frames of the dead, pinned to the sides of towers like sick banners? When had the underground of the city pulsed a poisonous purple, oozing dark energon like an open wound? Why was the tallest tower of decagon decaled with an enormous violet sigil, despite it being the face of the Autobots.

"Home sweet home eh? Gotta love how the boss decorates with those filthy Decepticons."

I felt my tanks heave as we landed. This wasn't war. This was slaughter. Even Decepticons did not deserve this.

"Well c'mon! We don't got all night!"

I stumbled off the transport trying not to look at the heads displayed on pikes that adorned the walkways to the entrance of the command center. I was afraid whose face I would see up there. This must be nightmare. My father would never allow this…_I _would never allow this.

"Major, you're back; I hope you bring good news with you!"

"Yes, sir, I do. Just look who I found!"

He stepped aside and swept his arm back, displaying me like a prize. The voice, one I associated with someone so loving, revealed itself as belonging to a monster. He was tall, like my own father had been, but that was where the similarities stopped. He had deep purple and black armor and a handsome faceplate, like my own mirror self, but his were accompanied by optics so cruel; I may as well have been staring at Megatron. I flinched away as his burning gaze fell upon me. He smiled and it made my energon run cold.

"Cliffjumper! It is you! I thought we had lost you! Come, walk with me old friend. This even is worthy of celebration!"

His words were not so different of my own father. Perhaps the outside was deceiving and my father was just a puppet here…or a prisoner. I followed him, smiling half-heartedly. We walked in silence until we came upon a hallway that I thought glowed with enormous orange lights on the side. As we drew nearer, I was horrified to see that I had been terribly, terribly wrong.

"Beautiful, aren't they? I thought they would be nice decoration, you know, to keep morale up."

"I…" I couldn't say any more. Grotesquely preserved corpses floated in the tanks, faces still frozen in agony and limbs' shattered pieces hovering near what remained together. I felt sick. This Optimus, this _monster, _went on without noticing my sickened expression.

"They show that even the strongest of the Decepticons cannot stand up to the might of the Autobot Conquest! Ha!"

He was laughing. This sick bastard was laughing at the tortured frames of the dead. He found death funny. But this was not the worst, because at the end of his sick trophy hall laid an even greater horror.

"What in the-"

"Ah, here we are…" Optimus said, leading the way into the cavernous room. I followed, feeling my paint hiss slightly from the enormous amount of heat in the room.

"…The Smelting Pool."

I knew it could only be used to melt down one thing. And as I looked across the pool of molten metal, I saw a rather small mech standing on a platform, and an Autobot I didn't recognize standing behind him. Optimus waved to grab his attention and the mech saluted from where he stood.

"Greetings, Lord Optimus!"

"Jazz please, I know you love it so, read us what this pathetic scum is guilty off!"

"Of course sir. Rumble, along with disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct, and general disregard for the law, you are also guilty of treason of the highest order…being a Decepticon! What say you to these charges?"

"Blow it out your exhaust pipe."

I snorted, trying not to laugh. When it earned me a glare from my 'Major' self, I straightened up. Suddenly I saw the mech called Jazz move with blinding speed and he had knocked Rumble to his knees.

"Wrong answer! You should have gotten on your knees and begged! Now you will die."

I was impressed that the smaller bot didn't say a word, but glared up at his captor with inspiring defiance. When I realized where this was headed, I turned to Optimus.

"What the slag is going on here?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, curiously turning his head as a sparkling would do. A klick later his optics widened and he straightened up. "Of course! I had forgotten how much you enjoyed executing the prisoners! I mean, remember that time we had that one Decepticon and we turned his ant-gravity device on? We let him slowly inch towards the pit until the heat destroyed it and he fell in screaming, remember? Oh, how I loved that sound!" he said, giddy with excitement. I shied away in horror.

"I shall give you the great honor of executing him yourself."

"No, I will not! This isn't right!" I retorted, crossing my arms. He tilted his head again, but this time I saw a dangerous predatory gleam in his optics.

"I am not sure what you are saying. Granted, Rumble here is not pleading for his life, but either way it will be most enjoyable to watch him burn."

My temper flared even more at his nonchalant tone.

"Enjoyable? He may be a Decepticon, but you know as well as I do that as a prisoner of war under Autobot law he has rights! We can't kill him for entertainment! This isn't justice, it's _murder._ You need to stop!"

Optimus stayed silent for a moment and I felt dread building in my spark as I watched his expression deteriorate in a sparkbeat.

"Oh, so unwise…"

He lifted his arm and I only had time to throw up my arms and scream.

"Father no!"

I heard the blast of a weapon discharge and saw a flash of purple light by for the round tore through mean and I tumbled across the ground. Everyone around me howled with laughter as I groaned wounded but thankfully not dead. Optimus came over to stand above me and his expression was deadly.

"I only let you live out my infinite mercy for my aides."

I managed a scoff.

"But what to do with you now, I wonder? You seem to have forgotten what it means to be an Autobot," he pondered, suddenly smirking and he stroked his chin thoughtfully. He then looked upwards on the wall and I followed, even more horrified when I saw the scorched remains of what looked like Bumblebee and Ironhide on the wall. There were several others, but they were too melted down to identify.

"What do you think, shall he join you all in oblivion?"

It took me a klick to realize that he was seriously talking to them. Was my father so good in whatever universe I came from, that in this one he was more evil and insane than Megatron ever was?

"What? Dispose of him? Hope he gets his wits back?"

I felt my arms being yanked up and the sudden movement cause ad swath of energon to burst forth from my wounds and I felt my vision begin to shut down. It grew darker the further I was dragged away and I could only hear my father's haunting voice echo.

"Then perhaps…perhaps he will again be worthy of the Autobot symbol he wears!"

I felt myself being thrown and I fell, landing heavily on a heap of what I thought was scrap. I later learned it was bodies. But that fell to the back of my processor as my vision continued to short out and the last thing I saw were two faces I never hoped to see back home.

And then I was blissfully unconscious.

000

I blearily opened my optics. Was it over? Was it just a bad dream?

"Well lookie there, he finally woke up."

I turned, hoping to see Ratchet, but instead got a good look at two Decepticons known as Hook and Scrapper. I yelped, scrambling backwards.

"St-Stay back!" I ordered, back-pedaling away and heading for the door. I made it out only to collide with a huge pair of legs.

"Oh, I apologize. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, thanks I-" I said, rubbing my helm. And then I looked up.

"Holy mother of Slag-!"

The puzzled face of Megatron stared back. He reached down towards me and I scrambled back towards the room I was in before. Primus damn me if I was going to die by that murderer's hands! I could at least take the Constructicons while I was wounded! A hand latched on to my leg and I kicked back futilely.

"Whoa there pipsqueak. I'm not going to hurt you!"

I froze, turning to see that this could not possibly be my uncle. For one, he was white and blue. Two, his blue optics resembled my own more than the usual cruel red they were. Three, he was smiling. Megatron never smiled unless he was torturing small animals.

"The fuck?"

"Um…bless you?" said the bot beside him. I looked over at him and saw a familiar face.

"Sideswipe!"

"Cliffjumper?"

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" I asked aloud. "I'm Rodimus Prime for frag's sake!"

I rambled on, not caring that I may have just run myself over in terms of protecting my identity.

"Okay, okay calm down!" thundered Megatron and I instantly fell silent. I looked up at both of them, and then turned to Sideswipe.

"What the frag are you doin' with Cons?"

"I could ask you why you're alive, but I haven't. And you're no Rodimus. You must've been more damaged than we thought if you think you're that aftshaft."

"But I'm not Major, or whatever he calls himself! I'm Rodimus Prime!"

"That's impossible," growled Megatron, kneeling down to prod me with a finger. It was noticeably absent of its claws and in fact; he was reminding me more of my own father than whomever the hell that crazy aft purple Optimus was had. "I hold the Matrix, therefore you cannot be Prime. And from the way you're talking, you're not Cliffjumper either. But, you cannot be Rodimus. My nephew is purple. And has a mustache."

I snorted. "Yeah well, he doesn't count. I'm the real one."

"Reveal yourself," he suddenly said and I felt my frame contort, as if it was being pressed by thousands of pounds all around, and then it suddenly loosened up. I felt my limbs stretch until they were their usual lanky length and my doorwings appeared on my back and I saw my armor become the gold and rose it usually was.

"Thanks. I was getting tired of being so short."

The two of them stared opened mouthed at me. Before either of us could saying anything, however, another figure I wasn't too eager to see came around the corner.

"Megatron, sir, is there a problem? Scrapper radioed me about an emer- dear Primus who is that?" he finished, giving me a strange look. I gave him one right back.

"Starscream," I hissed, glaring at him. He raised an optic ridge before turning to Megatron.

"Can you tell me why Optimus Prime's spawn decided to paint himself like a Decepticon? And a tacky one no less?"

"Tacky? You're wearing high-heels!" I retorted. "And that Optimus isn't my father! My father is-was- a great mech, better than I'll ever be! And _you _killed him," I said, pointing an accusing finger at Megatron. His blue optics widened.

"I have done no such thing. And why are you painted so? Although, I can't complain about no mustache…"

"I'm not that Rodimus! How many fragging times do I have to say that? I'm Rodimus Prime, son of Optimus Prime and Elita One! I have two siblings and you are definitely not that color!"

At the mention of my mother's name, a strange silence suddenly fell over the three mechs. I stood, leaning heavily against the wall as warnings flashed across my vision about lack of energon. I looked between them.

"What?"

"Perhaps, it would be better if you told him in private, Lord Megatron," said Starscream giving me a pitying look. "I do not believe he is our Rodimus. Give him a chance."

"Very well. I trust your judgment Starscream. Come Rodimus Prime, we have much to discuss."

And against my better judgment, I went.

0

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0

"_You're not going to kill me, are you?"_

"_Why would I do that? You have shown no intent to harm me or my men, more importantly, and you would have rights as a prisoner of war anyway. Are you sure you're alright? I could get Shockwave to take a look at your circuits."_

_The thought of the creepy mech made me cringe. "NO! Heh, I mean no, no, I'm fine, really."_

"_Okay then. Now, take a seat. I am very interested in your origins."_

_I sat down at the table he motioned to and he went over to an energon dispenser and poured me a glass. Setting it in front of me, he took a seat as well._

"_We're in my private office, so none of my nosy men should be able to eavesdrop."_

_He paused for a minute, scanning the room until he spotted something and smirked. It was a strange and rather gentle expression to see on Megatron's face._

"_Ravage, please go back to Soundwave. I'm sure he's looking for you."_

_A lithe, golden mechano-cat appeared from behind the energon machine with a sheepish grin on its face._

"_Sorry sir."_

"_No problem, but you need to leave, understood?"_

"_Yes sir!" it replied, saluting with its tail before loping out of the room. When the door had shut behind him, Megatron turned back to me with a smile._

"_Now, you seem rather like my younger brother was when he was small! Tell me, how did you find yourself here?"_

"_Well, I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not from this universe, alternate reality or other world. Whatever you call it, I'm not from here. Back where I'm from a mech named Alpha Trion sent me here, to teach me a lesson I suppose."_

"_Ah. I would have guessed that fiend had something to do with this," said Megatron, scowling. I couldn't help but laugh._

"_What?"_

"_Nothing, it's just…where I'm from my father has died recently. And you're evil there, but here you remind me a lot of him."_

"_Ah, I see. I am sorry for your loss. Strange though. How recent was his death?"_

"_Just a week ago, on a planet called Earth. Here though, it would even be an orn."_

"_Extraordinary. That's the exact time the Optimus here was heavily wounded."_

"_Really, he looked plenty fine to me," I grumbled. "Crazy though."_

"_I'm no surprised with that damned monster of a CMO he has. Ratchet is sadistic, but he's good when he's doing actually doing repairs."_

"_Ratchet's good at home too," I said, smiling. Who knew that my aftshaft uncle was actually a pretty cool person?_

"_That's good," he replied back, keeping the same smile on his face. It looked forced though and I gave him a curious look._

"_You're sad."_

"_Yes, I am. I'm also tired. I'm tired of fighting. And it hurts me that my little brother hates me so. And his son, your counter-part is not any more welcoming. He hasn't been the same since Elita died."_

_I felt an icy stab of despair go through my spark. Was I doomed to lose one of my parents no matter what universe I lived in?_

"_Well Optimus didn't seem too upset. I'm sorry about Rumble."_

_Megatron sighed. "Soundwave will not take that well. And thank you for your condolences. But you are wrong. Optimus is that way __**because **__Elita is dead. You see, before her death during Rodimus Major's sparking, he was not quite so ruthless…he wasn't a monster. He was just young and ambitious and War hadn't quite broken out yet. It was more 'a skirmish here-a skirmish there' type of scenario. Did your father love his Elita?"_

"_More than anything," I said, fondly remembering how my parents would gently kiss each other before going off to their separate posts in the morning._

"_This Optimus did too. He was a ruthless politician, unhappy being only a lowly senator, but Elita tempered his anger and he stuck to verbal attacks. He was also rather pleased about her pregnancy, especially when he found out it was a mech. It was an heir for his legacy, to carry on his will if he should die before he saw his goals accomplished. But-"_

"_She died," I said, sighing. Was I responsible for _all _their misery?_

"_Yes," whispered Megatron and I looked up to see a pitifully sad expression on his face. "She was out with me one orn, Optimus was at work and I had the day off from duty. Everything happened so fast, and Shockwave barely got there in time to deliver Major…she leaked out before he could do anything."_

_His optics grew dark and I saw that he carried the heavy burden of guilt on his shoulders._

"_I'm sorry," I said, not know what else to say._

"_Thank you young one. I am glad that you also have siblings where you come from. Elita would have made a great mother."_

"_She is," I said, smiling._

"_I'm sure she is, but as you can imagine, our Optimus is not quite as noble as you have described your father to be. He went insane, ranting that it was not only his son's fault but mine as well. I do not deny my own part in her death, but to blame it on an innocent? Imagine this tiny sparkling who had just been trying to achieve life, guilty of murder in the optics of his father before he could even intake once. Even now I do not think he recognizes Major as his son. And then came the mutilations of the council, then the mass bombings…so many died under the hands of him and his closest aides," he explained, trailing off into a broken whisper at the end. I found myself wondering if this was how my father felt everyday. How was he not overwhelmed by his own sense of guilt and sorrow?_

"_I know that look. You look very much like your father, you know. But I see Elita too. You have her optic ridges. You're wondering why I'm not blubbering in a corner somewhere, no? Well, I don't have time to pity myself. There are still innocents on this planet who need protecting and I'll be damned if I let them die too."_

_Seeing the determination, the sheer _hope, _in his blue optics it made me wonder what had gone so wrong to turn him into the twisted mech I knew. If he had been like this at home, the war would have never happened and I could have spent thousands of vorns with my parents._

"_Little one, I know you are suffering too. The Matrix is a great weight to bear, but always remember, you have people who care about you to help with the weight."_

His words echoed in my processor as I sat in a spare bunkroom they had. It was bare, with only a berth long enough for half my legs, but it offered a view of a sky I hadn't seen since I was a small youngling. I could seen the moonbases orbiting above, glittering white spheres akin to stars in the sky. This side of Cybertron, the city-state of Kaon and the gleaming city of Kolkular, usually taboo words at home, was beautiful still. There was bomb damage, yes. I could also see many sights where the dead had been smelted honorably and entombed, more than I would care to mention actually, but the towers still stood. They stretched high into the atmosphere and glittering bridges still connected them miles above the surface where I could hear music playing far below.

It was magnificent.

But it was not home. I didn't know anyone here, except for Sideswipe, but he had refused to talk with me. Several other Decepticons, though, welcomed me with smiles and many glasses of high-grade. Starscream especially, much to my surprise, was gracious and kind. He reminded me very much of Prowl if he had a better sense of humor. I was still lonely though, and even if it sounds juvenile, I miss my mother. She made everything better.

"Um, I hope I'm not intruding…"

I looked up to see a delicate Seeker femme with a broad smile on her face.

"No, not at all, come in," I said looking around for a chair, and seeing that there wasn't one, motioned for her to sit at the end of my berth. She smiled and sat down crossed-legged on the corner.

"Hi, I'm Honor! Sorry about Sideswipe. He's just a little cranky today is all. He had to fight his brother again."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Rodimus Prime."

"I heard. It's nice to see what you turned out to be like. No offense, but our Rodimus is an afthead."

"You're tellin me," I grumbled. She was about to say something else before a shadow fell across the doorway of my room. I looked up and saw a rather sour-faced Sideswipe.

"Honor, what are you doing with him?" he asked. His tone was more worried than accusatory so I let his attitude slide. She smiled at him.

"I'm just apologizing for your behavior babe. You're being very rude!"

Sideswipe raised an optic ridge at her, but his optics were gentle. "Fine, why don't you go recharge and I'll talk to him, alright?"

"That's a good mech. Goodnight Rodimus; it was nice to meet you!" she said, getting up and planting a kiss on Sideswipe's cheekplate before dancing out the door. He scowled.

"That femme, I swear."

"She's sweet," I said, knowing that it would rile him up. It did and he scowled even harder.

"Don't make me kill you."

"Jeez, you sound like Sunny."

I quickly realized that was the wrong thing to say. Sideswipe pointed at his chest and I saw a huge scar stretching across his chassis where I could see the faintest remnant of a violet Autobot insignia.

"Yeah, laugh it up. This was from him after I tried to stop a femme's execution. That's when I switched sides."

"I'm assuming it was Honor you saved?"

"No. It was her sister, Nightbird, I was trying to save. I was too late. That's why I'm a Con now."

"Ah."

"So," he sneered, curling his nose at me "You're from an alternate universe eh? Well, what am I like then?"

"An annoying afthead who never shuts up, argues with his brother and who will do anything to get out of babysitting his numerous nieces and nephews."

His optics widened. "Sunstreaker has _kids?_" exclaimed, voice strangled with horror.

"Yeah, four. And he's mated to Moonracer."

"Frag."

"Yeah, that's usually involved in those kind of things."

"I knew it!" he suddenly roared. "That skanky glitch! I knew she was up to something, trying to get in my brother's chest armor!"

Obviously Moonracer was not well-liked here. It was thinking of one twin's mate that I suddenly remembered why Sideswipe still lived with his brother in my world. It seemed to strike him too and he gave me a questioning glare.

"And Honor?"

I was silent for a moment before I decided it was better for him to know than to lie and give him false hope.

"She died, many, many vorns ago. I'm sorry."

He nodded once and I could almost hear his chest collapsing in on itself. I was surprised at how much he loved his own mate, still alive in this backwards world. Maybe there were some good things here.

"That's okay. I still have her here. It's just…damn. Okay, I can do this. I'm a former Autobot, and tougher than these weaklings. Alright, I'm supposing old Megs told you everything?"

"Yeah, and?"

"And why are you here? You can't be here just to learn 'the truth'. Don't you have your own war to fight?"

"Unfortunately, yes. Not to mention that Unicron is speeding towards the planet I'm living on now, threatening to devour it and everything that I love."

"Nice. Sounds just peachy."

"Earth is beautiful and humans are…tolerable. Except for a few, who make great friends."

"Earth. It is there that Optimus Prime wishes to stop first on his conquest of the galaxy."

"Ah. Sounds familiar."

"So, do you really know why you're here?"

I shook my head. "No. Alpha Trion did his freaky Thirteen thing and sent me here to 'teach me a lesson'."

"Sounds like him. Just as sadistic in your universe I suppose?"

"No, he's more manipulative and self-inflated than anything," I replied, crossing my arms. Sideswipe seemed curious.

"Tall, red optics and wields a staff?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Because that's what the Alpha Trion here looked like before he disappeared a few thousand vorns ago. Haven't seen him since."

I felt my optics widen as the realization crashed over me. I leapt up, panicked.

"But then I have to get home! He's in our city and with me out of the way he can do whatever he wants!"

"Alright, calm down. Panicking never solved anything. Let's go see Megatron. He should be able to help, and if not, at least calm you down."

I followed him out the hall, never minding that where I had been sitting started to glow blue and another figure emerged from the tunnel and slunk down the hallway after us.

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Whew, long chapter.

I love, love, love Shattered Glass. The Autobots are so much more twisted than the regular Decepticons. Especially Prime and Jazz. And Megatron is so ahem "KAWAII DESU!"…no, not really, but he is really sweet and a great leader. Of course, only in alternate universes is a Mathematician a good guy.

PLEASE REVIEW!


	31. And What Never Shall Be

_Chapter 31_

"_Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."_

_0_

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I was displeased. Considering I was the leader of the 'evil', as my dearest older brother said, Autobots it wasn't surprising. Who I was displeased with wasn't either.

"Major, you fail me yet again."

"I apologize father."

I snarled, smacking him. He crashed to the ground, long ago learning not to make a sound.

"You know how I detest that name," I said, turning heel to face the burning horizon of the wastes.

"Mother would have never-"

I spun around and had him by the throat in less than an astro-second. I could feel my optics burning with rage and was pleased to see the terror on his face.

"That word is forbidden!" I hissed, flinging him against the wall. He stayed down this time and I turned away again. He looked too much like Elita, and he did not deserve those traits. She had been a beautiful angel, and her murderer had the audacity to call her 'mother'.

"I apologize, Lord Prime."

I grunted, signaling for him to leave. "And do not appear before me again without good news or I shall do more than hit you next time. Mayhaps I shall have to teach that little femme tramp of yours a lesson."

He said nothing, but exited instead. A wise choice. I was left alone on my balcony and it was during this time that I could think about times long gone. It was also when others might say I descended into true madness. She would just smile and tell me that she loved me anyway.

I would never say her name again.

Instead, this 'war' as other called it, was simply retribution for her death. There had been so much energon when she died; I simply wanted to accumulate as much. I wasn't even close to my goal. This planet would have to bleed dry before I was even remotely sated. This accursed world would pay for what it had stolen from me. My brother would pay with more than his life.

"Optimus Prime, sir."

I turned, seeing Jazz standing there in a stiff salute. I raised an optic ridge.

"Well?"

"The Decepticons have requested an audience."

I narrowed my optics. What was the meaning of this? Megatron never negotiated, he thought himself too pure and good to be near us. The lying murderer.

"Your advice?"

"I say let them go for it. If we don't like what we hear we can always kill them for sport. I'm sure Ratchet would enjoy a few new test subjects."

I grinned wickedly. "Yes, quite. Very well. When are they due here?"

He paused and I knew he was checking his internal chronometer. A klick later he frowned.

"Five klicks ago."

"What?" I roared, storming past him. "Your aft is slagged when this is over!"

He didn't say anything but followed closely behind as I made my way to my receiving room. Several of my soldiers were visibly frightened and I knew I must have looked angry. Good, my fool brother should know that he isn't welcome to drop by whenever he pleases as if everything was fine and dandy between us. Two guards opened he double doors as I approached and I strode out into the grand hall and sat down on my chair. Before me stood the disgustingly benevolent figure of Starscream and behind him my idiot brother. They were surrounded by several aerial-cons and quite a number of the Constructicons. The mech that drew the most of my attention though, was a gold and deep rose colored one.

"So, my dear older brother, what brings you to my humble abode?"

"I bring the promise of a truce, brother."

I laughed, twisting so my legs dangled over the right arm of my throne. "And pray tell what would make you think that?"

"I bring someone you know very well."

He pushed the gold mech forward and I sat up straighter when I saw his face clearly.

"Who are you?"I demanded. That was impossible.

"My name is Rodimus Prime. I am your son from another universe. One where you are good, and kind, and Elita, my mother, lives."

I narrowed my optics. "And why should I believe you, one who keeps company with murderers and liars?"

I saw Starscream bristle and I smirked at him. "Isn't that right Seeker?"

"Why you-!"

Megatron held out his arm to stay him. "Peace Starscream. He's only doing what he knows best. Running away from a situation not in his favor."

"You dare?" I said, getting up to stand in front of him, pushing aside the so called 'Rodimus Prime'. He glared back at me, and I was enraged to see not anger, but pity in them.

"Fine!"I barked. "Goldbug?"

"Yes sir?"

"Fetch Ratchet."

"Of course, sir."

I went back to sit on my throne as we waited for my medical officer to appear.

"I will not believe you until it is proven that you match genetics with my queen."

He turned back to Megatron to whisperer something and I only caught the tail end of it.

"…thought she was dead?"

I curled my hands into fists, crushing my armrests under the pressure. How dare they speak of my angel that way? Like a common droid? She had been torn from me, murdered! She did not simply go offline; she had been too beautiful to die in such a simple way.

"Prime, you request my services?"

We collectively turned to see Ratchet, waiting with a sick smile on his face. His optics glowed with crazed curiosity when he caught sight of Rodimus Prime. He began to circle him almost immediately, observing everything and anything.

"Curious. I did not know you had two children Optimus, you've been holding out on me."

"He's not my son. I have no children."

He shrugged and reached forwards with his serrated fingers to lift up the golden mech's arm. He flinched away.

"Ow you slagger! That was my protoform you were digging into!"

"I know."

Ratchet studied the sample of metal and energon before putting it into his arm's scanner.

"Let's see…sixty percent type four energon…ah, very interesting, you've got bad audios. It also says that your energon contains over point five percent pure energon."

"So?" I said, glaring. "What difference doest that make?" I asked, glaring at him.

"It's the same stuff you have, dumbaft. Yours is just nasty and cruddy with all that dark energon you eat all the time, fatty!"

I let the insults slide; they were, after all, just the ramblings of madman.

"And just _what_ does having that amount of 'pure energon' prove?" I demanded.

"That he's a Prime you idiot! He is indeed your son, but not of this timeline. He has elements in his protoform that have been extinct on Cybertron long before his birth here. Looks like you've got daddy problems kid," he said, pushing Rodimus Prime before turning to go back to his Med Bay.

"Suggestion?" I asked him. He turned back around to face me and smiled.

"Kill him," he shrugged. "I've already got one."

I shrugged as well. What could it hurt? I drew my pistol and aimed it at the mech standing before me.

"Very well," I said before firing a single shot.

"NO!"

And of course, my ever heroic brother leapt in front of my supposed other son and took the shot instead.

"Bravo Megs, you saved the brat."

He whipped around and hissed at me. I was mildly surprised. He rarely showed such aggressive behavior. He continued to scowl as his soldier known as Soundwave came over and slung an arm over his shoulder.

"Megatron: Courageous bro. Optimus Prime: Cowardly dude."

I rolled my optics. But I paused when I caught sight of Rodimus Prime studying me carefully.

"Caution brat, keep staring and I'll tear your optics from your head."

"You know, there's not something quite right about this whole thing," he said. I was curious to hear what he had to say, but feigned disinterest.

"It is very rare for the mother to die during sparking; it is usually the spark that does not survive if there are complications."

The room had fallen silent as he spoke and I had grabbed my pistol, ready to take another shot should his next words encourage me. I was completely entranced by his words, not even noticing that my brother had also fallen still.

"But Megatron told me that your Elita leaked to death, a rare instance no? In fact, the only time I have ever heard of it happening to our species without sustaining a weapon inflicted wound is-"

"Poison," said Megatron, his optics wide in horror.

_Angel. Poison. Angel. Poison. Poison. __Energon. POISON. Death. Death. Angel. ELITA. __**POISON!**_

"What are you saying?" said Jazz, stepping forward. He knew I wasn't able to move.

Rodimus Prime looked up at us.

"Someone wanted her dead. She didn't die from sparkbirth, she was murdered."

The room was absolutely silent. And then I stood up, optics resting on my brother. Incomplete thoughts raced through my processor, each screaming to be heard, but only doomed to blend together into a single message.

_He was…Jealous! Megatron, Jealous! He did it! Murder. MURDER. Always hated…jealous. Jealous. Angel…my angel. Elita, dead. Gone, she was gone. POISON. Poison. POISON!. Dead. Energo-MEGATRON! MURDERER! HIM! HIM!_

I leapt without a sound diving for him, talons outstretched. I was about to slice open his chassis when two arms encircled my waist, stopping me dead. I was then whirled about and slung across the room. I landed with a thunderous crash against the wall. I tried to get up, but I was held down by a slim sword pressing against my throat.

"You did it," he whispered. Rodimus Prime's optics were narrowed slits of fury and it was then that I saw myself in him.

"You never wanted a child. So what did you do? You tried to get rid of it. No one is responsible except for your own selfishness!" he roared, shaking me.

"No!" I said. I didn't kill her. I would never…my angel. My lady of light…Angel! My first, my Elita.

"Rodimus, stop. He didn't kill her."

It was Megatron. He still held his arm, which leaked blue energon across the floor as he approached. I began to panic, pressing myself against the wall.

"Out! Out! GET OUT!" I howled. My soldiers moved to obey, Rodimus scrambled back in surprise. My brother simply stared down at me with infinite pity. No. I didn't want it.

"It was him," said Rodimus, turning to Megatron.

"NO!" I said, hysterical. Why would I do that? I had not yet had my revenge! But what if I had? The energon, I wanted the energon!

"Not you. Him."

I turned to where he was pointing and saw a figure that haunted my waking nightmares.

"Alpha Trion."

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"But-but you're at home," I managed to choke out. "How-?"

"No, no. I am A3, his counterpart from your universe. Alpha Trion escaped from here many, many vorns ago."

"So what are you trying to-?"

"He poisoned Elita here, with a high concentrate of Magnesium and Cybertronium. The first causes ruptures in the energon lines, the latter, in too high of a dosage, causes a weakened support system. She died, Rodimus Major did not. When he realized he could not take over here, he found a way to travel to your universe where…"

"He stole me," I said.

"Exactly. He was going to do what he did here, except he was going to try a better idea. Why kill the next Prime when you could have him in the palm of your servo?"

The room was dead silent as we listened; the Autobots' faces dark with rage. They may have been twisted, egotistical bastards, but they had adored Elita One as their queen. The Decepticons were pictures of shock, not wanting to believe such a thing would happen. A3 let it sink in before moving into action.

"Now, move along, move along Rodimus. We must get back to our own universe. I've been trapped in this one for nearly as long as Alpha Trion has been in my place. We must leave immediately if we are  
to-"

"No one move."

The command hissed out of the Autobot leader like the gusts of wind that blew through the Pit itself. He fixed his blistering red optics on us.

"You two aren't going anywhere until I get more answers about this ridiculous story."

"Oh, but we are," said A3, a courteous smile plastered on his face. He waved his staff and a portal appeared, identical to the one that I had come here in. I didn't move for a moment, but then I was shoved into it and the very last thing I saw was the unwavering hate in my father's optics.

I only hoped this nightmare would never come true.

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I studied Sam as he slept, marveling at the steady beat of what he called a 'heart'. It sounded almost exactly like a spark, constant and soothing.

I had no spark of my own. I had given it up long ago to give life to this world. And now, what remained of it was in the form of this child before me. He subconsciously rubbed the curious little yellow band around his left hand's third finger and it made me sad for some reason.

"Carly."

His wife. Sam's eyes lit up whenever he talked of her, and she must be a great female indeed to have captured his heart. Of course, I had known of her long before she and Sam met, but that is all I had known.

"Daniel."

This time, his face contorted in worry. Obviously his son troubled him. From what he had told me, his son shared the same symptoms he had. This worried me as well. It was extremely strange for the Allspark to have done this. It was not a genetic gift.

"Daniel!" he screamed, sitting up and clutching at his chest. He panted, looking around in a panic. I moved forward to comfort him but he batted my hand away angrily.

"Don't touch me," he snarled. His eyes glowed dimly and his face was dark with fear.

"You are afraid," I said, trying to make my voice softer so he would understand my concern.

"Yes."

"But not for yourself. You sense it as well don't you?"

"Yes," he whispered again. "Something dark…a shadow."

"Unicron. He is moving again."

"Great. Big, mean and ugly number four thousand in my life."

I smiled half-heartedly. "Big, yes, mean, of course, but like most truly evil things, he is not ugly. He is a predator and thus, his looks help lure the weak-hearted in."

"Well good for him…"he broke off, suddenly sitting up as his eyes reached super-nova level.

"Something…something is coming!" he said, eyes wide in horror. Then he leapt at me, shoving me out of the way as a wormhole opened, just as predicted.

"Primus!" he swore. I scowled at him.

"Young man, I do not appreciate you using my name in such a manner."

"Oh, yeah, sorry."

But he turned back to the portal and I watched curiously as a frame was dumped out onto the metal surface of the planet. It looked up and I was rather surprised at the face that stared at me.

"Jazz? I thought for sure that your spark had gone home."

The mech scowled at me and stood, easily five feet taller than me.

"And who're you supposed ta' be? You look like one o' them Decepticreeps to me. A pity."

He drew his weapon with a wicked smile. Before he could fire, though, a hand shot out of the portal and drew him back in.

"You fool, get back here!" shouted a disembodied voice. Sam and I shared a look. Obviously they were having technical difficulties. They seemed to work it out however, with a little help from myself, and a few klicks later two shapes tumbled out.

"The hell?" said Sam, leaning down to get a good look at them. They raised their optic ridges in surprise and stared.

"Whoa, is that who I think it is?"

"Indeed," I said, holding out my hand for the taller mech to take. He smiled gratefully as he hauled himself to his feet.

"Hello, my name is Megatron, Leader of the Decepticons, pleased to meet you."

Sam shrieked, rather like a girl, and began rambling. Honestly, he was supposedly a full grow human yet he behaved like a child. I ignored him as the other figure stood up.

"I assume you're Starscream?"

"Yes sir that would be correct."

"Can I also assume that you have not left your world in a state where it cannot survive without you?"

"No…um, what is your name?" asked Megatron.

"Some call me Primus, so you may call me that. And the screaming buffoon is Samuel Prime."

He stopped, as I knew he would after being insulted, and gave me a sour look.

"Dude, totally unnecessary. And what the hell are you doing, talking to Decepticons?"

"And why should I not? They will not harm us. If you were more observant, you would notice that they are not the Megatron and Starscream you know."

He did pause, and after studying their vastly different color schemes and expressions, he nodded.

"Fine."

"Is Rodimus Prime here as well?" asked Megatron, looking around.

"No," I said, frowning. "Was he coming through as well?"

"Alpha Trion sent him before us, but I assumed he would be sent to the same place."

I concentrated for a moment, trying to pinpoint the young Prime's sparkbeat and when I found it on Earth, I smiled.

"He is safe, on a planet far from here."

"Good," said Starscream. He then looked around us, his expression sorrowful.

"Is this the fate of your Cybertron?"He asked. I nodded sadly.

"Unfortunately, my brother and his followers are a rather explosive bunch. Not that all my children aren't, it's just, the Decepticons here are a little more violence prone than others."

"Your children?"

"Well, yes. I created you. All of you. Even your world is of my own creation, but with a different storyline."

"So let me get this straight…you're Primus?"

"Correct."

The seeker scowled. "And you exist?"

"Last time I checked, yeah!" said Sam, putting his hands on hips. "Unlike you, Sir Runs-Away-A lot."

"I never run from a fight!" he protested, shaking a fist. They continued to bicker while I focused my attention on Megatron.

"Sorry for my pupil's behavior. You must understand that he is under quite a large amount of stress lately."

"I understand. I am just curious as to why I am here."

"Unicron has awoken. I do not have the power to fight him any longer, indeed I haven't been able to for many, many eons, but that is why I created your race. Rodimus Prime will be leading his soldiers here to fight him before he can reach Earth. I assume you are here to help."

"If that is what is needed for freedom, than I would be honored to fight."

"Good, now come along. We have much to discuss while those two solve their own problems."

Megatron chuckled and followed me as his second in command and Sam continued to bicker.

"Indeed."

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When we landed back at Autobot City, it was silent. I knew in my spark that A3's evil counterpart had done something. This was a city of metal, inhabited by beings of metal. It was never quiet.

"We must work quickly. He will go after your mother."

I turned to A3 with fear-filled optics. "Why?"

"Long ago, just after you were sparked, I repaired her. I equipped her with a device that would bring her spark back from the Well of Allsparks."

"So?"

"It has the ability to stop time. Do you know what my counterpart could do with that power?"

I nodded. Memories of my childhood came back, orn after orn of being made to hone my skills until I could kill in my sleep. I had forgotten much of it during the few short months with my family, but I could feel that training start to press at the back of my processor the longer I was Prime.

"He will try and rule this universe. I cannot allow that to happen."

"I know that."

"Good. Now you must go meet _your _destiny."

I gave him a puzzled look. "What do you mean? I'm going to save my family."

"Leave that to me, young Rodimus. We did not return alone. You must journey to Cybertron and face down the evil that is Unicron and your Uncle."

"But-"

His deep blue eyes flashed and though I wielded the Matrix, I wasn't arrogant enough to ignore greater power when I saw it.

"You will take care of them?"

"Till my last intake."

"The humans as well?"

"Of course."

"Let's roll."

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Whoo! Next chapter, we're scrambling out into space!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	32. Bad Times

_Chapter 32_

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"_Break down, every single one of you."_

_~Tite Kubo_

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We were trapped. I don't know how, but we were trapped. I looked frantically around to the beings that had been infallible, indestructible, to me all my life and was horrified to see them incapacitated so easily. I clung to Bumblebee, terrified that one move would reveal us to the rampaging mech.

"Daniel, I must…go. Stay…here."

"Bee no!"

But he set me down gently behind a barricade and leapt over the wall, flinging himself into the fight. I followed his movements, amazed at how much of a good fighter he was. He moved with Prowl's precision, Optimus' skill and Ironhide's crazy strength. But he was no match for Alpha Trion.

"Is that all this pathetic universe has to offer? A half-dumb scout, some back alley farmers and a couple of skinny femmes and retired gladiators?"

I saw that he had indeed taken down Sunstreaker and this also surprised me. I had only seen him fight, truly fight, once and it had frightened me so much I couldn't look him in the optics anymore. It didn't compare to the fear I felt now, but I wasn't going to watch them die.

"Hey, ugly, over here!"

Burning red, almost black, optics fell upon me and I shrank back.

"What do we have here? A pest? Well, I already trapped the others in their own hive. I suppose I shall have to squash you."

I began to run, but I felt my brain surging, saw a bright blue light and suddenly voices were running through my head.

_Be brave young Witwicky!_

_His cruelty makes him vain, weak! Use it!_

_He is nothing without his staff! Take it!_

_He is not of this world; a friend comes to help you!_

_Fight!_

_Fight until you can no longer move! And then fight harder!_

_FIGHT!_

I suddenly spun and stuck out my arms on instinct and I screamed, more out of fear than pain, as a bright blue-white light surged forth and struck the staff in Alpha Trion's hand. It soared in a high arc behind the older mech and landed in a wall, quivering with the force behind the impact.

"Well, well that was interesting. In fact, I don't think humans are supposed to have optics that color. _Very interesting._"

"Daniel run!" cried Elita. Her children were cowering behind her where she and Prowl stood as a wall in front of all the younglings. Sentinel and Skyrider, my best friends, turned to me petrified with fear. The urge to save them gave me strength to face Alpha Trion again.

"**Yeah, well take a good look! This is the last thing you see before you hit the Pit!"**

"And he knows of our language! Delightful! I shall have to dissect you later. Perhaps Ratchet can help me when I get home. Come here!"

He reached down with his spidery fingers and I flung my arm out, gasping in fear when nothing happened.

"Slag!" I cursed as he picked me up, squeezing my ribs with his metallic pinchers.

"You burn hot with a spark as well. You are not entirely human…perhaps the Allspark has manifested in you? Well, no matter how interesting that is, we cannot allow that."

And he began to crush me. I gasped my breath hitching as I felt my bones creak with the pressure. And then, suddenly, my ribs snapped. I couldn't even cry out as I felt my vision swim.

"Daniel, NO!" I heard Bumblebee scream. That made my eyes focus. His voice hadn't cracked one bit. I opened my mouth to smile at him and felt blood burble up and I choked, causing a globule to run down my chin.

"Let him go."

Alpha Trion turned and I nearly vomited as I was swung around to face the newcomer as well. There stood Alpha Trion, but as he should be. He had wise, but sad, blue optics and an elegant braided beard and in his hand he held a staff that spoke not of power, but of leadership. His gaze fell upon me and he smiled softly.

"You have done well little one, now rest. Everything will be over soon."

I gratefully closed my eyes, not caring that I was still dangling in Alpha Trion's grip.

"I am A3, the rightful bearer of the Spear of Destiny in this universe. Now begone with you!"

And from behind my eyelids, I saw a bright flash and felt a hot rush of air before I fell. But I did nothing to stop it, but instead focused on how good it felt to be unconscious.

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_Danger._

_My family is in danger. My people are in danger._

I opened my optics and saw nothing but a soft blue light. Am I dead?

Of course I am.

I remember of course, the fear that tore through me when I saw Rodimus being crushed under my brother's heel. I remember the pain of being shot, the desperation of trying to shield the twins from the blast. And then falling.

Falling away from the light.

Falling away from the sounds of battle.

My spark falling away from Elita's, from my children's.

And now I'm here, caught in the afterlife while my friends and family battle for survival. Some Prime I turned out to be.

"Do you really still think that after all these vorns?"

I turned, and saw that it was not my brother, nor was it a Prime. It was my mother. She'd never visited me before, and I'd never had the desire to. Sentinel didn't mention her very much and I'd only seen a few holograms and portraits of her.

"Mother?"

"No, the Queen of Cybertron…oh wait, I was," she laughed, an unpleasant, condescending sound. I waited patiently for her to notice that I wasn't laughing with her.

"Just like your father then. He was never much fun either."

"Why?"

"Why what? Why did I have you?"

She walked closer to me and I was surprised to see just how much of me I saw in her. So this is where I got the blue in my optics that Elita described as extraordinary. She had a beautifully aristocratic face, something the other mechs tease me mercilessly about. And yet, there's something in the way that she holds herself that also reminds me of Sentinel. She is uncompromising, no matter how unpleasant, and I admire this.

"I did not love Alpha. I loved his position in society. But I loved you and your brother, however small that love may have been. And I loved your father, Orion."

"I remember…" I whispered, pulling up one of my earliest memories, of her beautiful face whispering that name in my audios. "You never called me Optimus."

"That is what Alpha named you. Vector also liked the name, but I named you Orion. I saw stars in your optics."

Apprehension filled me as she drew closer again and I found myself hating her for what she had done. She had driven a wedge between me and Megatron before I was even born. She was his father's other femme, the mistress. He was right, I never should have been Prime, and I had no right to…

"That's enough. You're easy to read like your brother. Megatron did not deserve to be Prime. It was your father's wish that you take the mantle after Sentinel…passed."

And I saw sorrow on her face and it suddenly occurred to me that while she may have died before either of us, we were still her children. She must have known the exact astro-second when Sentinel died. I already knew that no matter how much of my younger life I had spent hating her, and my older life pushing her influence away, that I could not reject her again.

"And you're dead too, and he still lives. He hated me too, and that is something I will never forgive myself for passing on to you. He has always hated us."

"Mother," I interrupt, looking around. "Where is father? Sentinel?"

Her blue optics stare into mine with grim revelation. "They refuse to see me. Your father cannot forgive my selfishness, and neither can your brother. But you, Orion, you are my little star…"

And she reaches up, barely able to touch my chest, and I kneel down for her. She strokes my cheek with her thumb digit and suddenly something clicks. This is what I had been missing for most of my life. This is what I sense in Elita's spark when she cradles one of the twins or rubs Rodimus' helm. It is a mother's love, and I realize that no matter how hard I try, no matter how deeply I desire to protect my children, my love will never compare.

"You are the most selfless mech ever born to this title, Orion. Your people love you because you love them. They trust you because you have shown just how much you suffer to bring them happiness. They die for you because you have shed energon for them. Never in our history has a Prime sacrificed so much."

"But mother, I am selfish. I cannot, and will not, sit idly by while my duties fall to my son in such a time. Megatron will not stop, Unicron is coming. I will not put my family in such harm's way."

"And you are a father, and this is natural. But I cannot help you back to the land of the living Orion. That is a journey you must make on your own. But I can help you contact Rodimus."

I look up and she smiles, the arrogance coming back into her expression.

"Come along, we're going to find your father."

And I get up, finding it difficult to keep up with her quick stride until I realize that I'm tiny, around the age that I have the most memories with Sentinel. The farther we walk, however, I feel my stride lengthening and my limbs stretching until I am back to my normal, towering thirty feet or so.

"What was that?"

"Oh nothing, my star, just the afterlife's affect."

Apparently this was going to be more difficult than I thought, this being dead business.

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My spark raced, energon pumped through my lines and I could feel my twin's heart race twice as fast.

"Sunny, stay calm," I told him. He was furious, no beyond furious, he was livid. Alpha Trion, the bastard, had sliced us up good and I was pretty sure my left audio was lying detached from my processor somewhere far behind.

"Fuck you Sides," he hissed, and that was when I knew there would be no stopping him. He only cursed in the human language when he was serious, because he said it sounded even worse than our language. The other Alpha Trion, the one who called himself A3, had blasted his other self away from Daniel's still body with a huge flash of light.

"Alright then, let's frag some skidplates."

Sunny was already up again, seemingly impervious from the obviously paralyzing wound on his leg, where a good part of his inner pistons and motor cables were simply gone. He snapped his arm out and a serrated blade, something I haven't seen in thousands of vorns, appears.

"You're using that thing? Isn't it a little overkill?" I ask, only because I know what will happen in he uses it. He may never come back, mentally that is.

"_Jailbird _is not a thing. _She _is a lady," said Sunstreaker, grinning at me. But it was a sinful grin, the grin of a devil. Gone was the loving father and sparkmate, gone was my brother. In his place stood a terrifying beast, a gladiator with no arena. He raised the saw-toothed blade and looked over at me expectantly.

"Well?"

I unsheathed my own sword, one I hadn't _used_ in thousands of vorns.

"You bring out _Agony _and tell me I'm overkilling it?"

"Shut up and kill something."

He listens quite well, as we soon come to realize that Alpha Trion was not alone in capturing and defeating us. Dozens of droids stream from the side streets and I see Ironhide pick himself up to defend an unconscious Chromia and a badly wounded Bumblebee. But Sunstreaker is a terrible plight that I have unleashed upon the city.

"Sideswipe are you crazy?" said Moonracer from where she was holding her own with her children behind her. "The frag did you do?"

"I fragging killed some fragging droids femme!" I roared back. I loved her like a sister, but slag if she wasn't a pain in the aft sometimes.

She whipped out her pistol and aimed towards me.

"The frag are you-!"

And I fell silent as I felt the hot sting of a plasma round whistle past my audio and hit something solidly behind me. I turned to see a droid, poised for attack, only to fall forward and lay still.

"I know what you're doing, idiot," she said. "I asked what you did to get Sunstreaker all revved up. He's scaring the kids."


End file.
